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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28726974">Secretary Kim</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/utopiansun/pseuds/utopiansun'>utopiansun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood, CEO Park Seonghwa, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Mentions of Blood, No Beta, No Smut, Secretary!Hongjoong, Soft Kim Hongjoong, Threats of Violence, Vampires, Violence, vampire!Seonghwa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:55:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28726974</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/utopiansun/pseuds/utopiansun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Humanity made peace with vampires a long time ago, meaning, they had to establish rules. Vampires cannot feed off of humans without their consent, and humans cannot attempt to hurt vampires unless it’s for self defense. Everything went well and everyone followed the rules.</p><p>Hongjoong followed them as well, as well as his own personal rules to keep his life stable and balanced. One of his rules was to absolutely not, under any circumstances, fall in love with his new boss, Park Seonghwa. Who just so happens to be the CEO of the most successful skincare company for vampires and, of course, is a vampire himself.</p><p>Well, some rules are meant to be broken, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>170</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Postponed Dreams</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seoul, South Korea.</p><p>The city that attracts young adults with big dreams like a magnet, from near and far. Whether it was to fully experience the city life, or to become a young idol and make many fans fall in love with them, the city was the dream destination for many Koreans, tourists and foreigners alike.</p><p>One of those young adults was Kim Hongjoong. It had taken him a while to convince his parents to let him go, considering the fact that he was only sixteen years old when he decided to leave and pursue his dreams. He still remembers basically begging them on his knees to trust him, to let him go.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Mom, please! I even promise to call often, and you guys can come visit me at random times, without having to tell me first!” Sixteen-year-old Hongjoong followed his mother into the living room, where his father was. He was putting on the best puppy-dog-eyes he could muster, but his mother wasn’t even looking at him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> His father looked over at the sound of his voice, letting out an amused sighed, “He’s still going on about it?” His mother sat down next to her husband on the couch, shaking her head, “He hasn’t stopped since last week. Stubborn, just like his father.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Appa, please. I’ll work hard, and I’ll pay you back too, I just wanna make music!” Hongjoong sat down on the floor in front of them, his begging never stopping. He had to convince them. He already found a cheap apartment in Seoul, and while it was located in a shady part of the city, he would gladly take it. There was just one problem: he didn’t have nearly enough money to pay rent, and as much as he hates asking his parents for this when it’s already a big deal for them to let him go this young, he has no other choice if he really wants to follow his dreams.<br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>His parents looked at each other, able to have a silent conversation without any miscommunication after years of being married. He hated it when they did that, at least when it was about him. He never knew what they were thinking, what they were gonna say yes, and quite certainly, he wasn’t even sure how they did it in the first place. Twelve year old Hongjoong was convinced his parents had superpowers.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Show me the apartment ad first. I want to make sure it’s not a scam.” Hongjoong scrambled to get up at his father’s words, running to his room to get his laptop, almost bumping into his older brother on the way.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He expected a few things. One, his parents would tell him no because the rent was too pricey for them. Two, his parents would tell him no because the apartment looked too shady. Three, his parents would tell him no unless he found a roommate. Four, they would actually let him go.<br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was a big surprise to him when they chose the fourth option. His father called the number that was on the ad and thankfully the apartment was still free to take.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Once he hung up the phone, he turned to Hongjoong with a small smile on his face, and a certain glint in his eyes, “We can drive over to fill out the paperwork and such tomorrow. Better start packing, Hongjoong.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Thank you! Thank you so, so much! I promise you won’t regret it! I’ll pay you back, every small amount!” He wasn’t much for skin-ship, even with his parents, but he basically threw himself at both of his parents and pulled them into a tight hug, which was soon completely by his brother (who had no idea why they were hugging, but he joined anyway).</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He didn’t hear the conversation his parents had after he ran up the stairs to start packing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re sure this is a good idea?” His mother asked once she heard a door close. Her husband nodding, sitting back down on the couch with a little hum, “The boy seems happy. We can’t keep him here forever, darling. We gotta let him grow up, choose his own path. If this is what he wants to do, then let’s support him as parents should. Let’s not hold him back.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>They not only paid for his rent, but also gave him allowance until he managed to find a little job. Without his parents, he wouldn’t have been able to do this all. He’d be forever thankful towards them. The moment he got his first pay, he began to pay them back for everything they’ve done for him, despite the protests that he didn’t need to do that, that he should look after himself first.</p><p>He eventually asked them to stop sending him allowance, wanting to manage himself and they listened. They would still send him money on his birthday, though he never used it for groceries or anything alike. Instead, he saved it until he had enough to buy a professional microphone and a better laptop for producing.</p><p>When he turned nineteen, he asked them to stop covering his rent. He was able to take care of himself, working a job with a pay that would cover his rent and groceries without any worry. They refused, telling him that he might regret it soon or overestimated himself. To make them worry less, he lied. He told them he got hired by a company and was in the process of becoming a producer for them. His parents didn’t know anything about those type of things, so they didn’t ask for further proof and simply congratulated their son for finally achieving his dreams.</p><p>Hongjoong was 22 now and never corrected his lie. His family still believed he was doing good as a producer, when that was far from the truth. He hasn’t been able to even touch his music program in months because his jobs keep him busy. He’s too exhausted to work on music when he gets home at night, often too lazy to even change out of his clothes.</p><p>He could always ask his parents for help, he knows that, and quit one of his jobs to get back to music, but he doesn’t want to. Or rather, he can’t. He already feels bad about lying to them and having them help him for so long. Now that he’s made them believe he’s standing on his own two feet, he can’t just turn to them and tell them it was a lie all along, that he’s barely getting by and needs their help more than anything else. Not only does he know they’d be disappointed in him, but he would be very disappointed in himself. And he doesn’t want to be a disappointment. So, he’d rather work two jobs and try his best than to ask his parents for help yet again. </p><p>His jobs definitely weren’t the best, but they weren’t the worst either. Working in a grocery shop during the day was not the best idea for someone with a temper like he has, but he controls himself and always puts on his extra-sweet voice and costumer pleasing smile when talking to entitled assholes. During the night, he worked as a barkeeper in a club called ‘Red Night’. There would be occasional flirting attempts, but he just brushes them off with a forced smile that made him look constipated. Oh, and then there was this one time where he got attacked by a vampire because she didn’t like his drink.</p><p>Vampires were a thing, yeah. Hongjoong grew up with them around. Humanity made peace with them long, long ago, and now there were laws for them and for humans, and trying to attack a human broke some sort of law. At least, it feels like it should, but Hongjoong wasn’t too sure about it. It’s not like he really needed to know vampire laws. As long as he knew his part, he would be fine, right?</p><p>Despite vampires being around for so long, many humans still feel the need to voice their prejudices. Hunting them was illegal now, but some people were still bold enough to attempt and then get arrested. Hongjoong would sometimes hear about it in the news, like right now.</p><p>It was his day off, at least for the grocery store. He would still need to turn up at the bar for his shift there, but those were worries for later. Right now, he could just relax on his couch and watch some TV. A news reporter was talking about how some man attempted to murder an entire vampire family last night by burning their house down, but thankfully nobody was home that night. He got caught and arrested.</p><p>“Idiot..” Hongjoong muttered into his cup of coffee before taking a sip, letting the hot beverage rush down his throat and wake his body up more. He might barely have any food in his house, and his heater and AC Unit don’t work, but at least he has his sweet, precious coffee with him. If he could, he would definitely live off this stuff, but that sadly just wasn’t possible.</p><p>After finishing his first cup of coffee, he decided to go check the mail. He knew he’d probably just find some spam mail and the newspaper from the weekend. He only really checked his mail every Wednesday. After he quickly threw on a hoodie, he made his way down the stairs to the entrance of his little apartment block and opened his mailbox, taking the contents in it out and looking through it as he walked back up the stairs.</p><p>Spam, spam, the newspaper, an ad, an ad, an eviction notice from his landlord, spam- He paused in his tracks. An eviction notice from his landlord?! That’s not supposed to be there.</p><p>He quickly headed back into his apartment, closing the door a little too harshly behind him but right now, he couldn’t find it in himself to really care about that. His only focus was the eviction notice in his hand, that he hoped was a hallucination at first but as he ripped it open and read through it, it was very much real.</p><p>He felt like he was gonna faint. Why can’t life be good to him for once? He knew it was gonna be hard to make it, but fuck, not once did he expect it to be this hard. And 2021 barely even started.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Dear Kim Hongjoong.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Because you have failed to pay rent for the last two months for your unit, your rights of possession and occupancy are hereby terminated under the provision of your lease. You are still liable for rent and other charges you may owe under the lease. [...]”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>No matter how many times he rubbed at his eyes, closed and opened the letter again and again, the words didn’t change. He had until next week to move out. Had he really been so up in his world to not notice the fact that he failed to pay rent, for two months straight? Does this mean he was going into the third month of not paying rent? And despite being kicked out, he would still need to cover the costs he has failed to pay until now. Sometimes, he would really rather be dead. Sometimes was right now. He’d rather be dead right now.</p><p>He sat down in front of his coffee table and slammed his head down on it, wanting to scream in frustration, but he didn’t exactly need a noise complaint as well, so he opted to groan and slam his head against the table one more time. Ouch, that actually hurt this time. He sat up straight, rubbing at his forehead and glaring at the table below him for being so hard. He still wasn’t done, though. He needed to get his feelings out, but he was not gonna slam his head against the table once more. Either his head would break, or the table would and he couldn’t afford either right now. Instead, he reached over for the newspaper with the intend of rolling it up and hitting himself with it.</p><p>However, he read something that made him forget all about his frustrations.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Position: Secretary</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He flipped the newspaper open to read the full announcement meant, his eyes lighting up with hope that maybe, maybe this job could save his ass, despite never having worked as a secretary before, despite this newspaper being from last Saturday and the extremely slim chances of the job still being open.</p><p>His mouth fell open in shock when he read the company name at the bottom of the ad.</p><p>
  <strong><br/>Vempire.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Vempire was looking for a secretary. And the more he read of the ad, it didn’t even mention anything about having experience or a certain degree. While that does seem a little fishy, Hongjoong couldn’t care less. He needed to try and get this job, begged to whatever deity above that it wasn’t taken yet. Because quite certainly, working for Vempire would definitely save his ass more than he can imagine.</p><p>Vempire, as the name probably gives away, is a company that sells products and clothes aimed at vampires. It’s not just <em>a</em> company, actually, it’s the most successful company in the whole vampire business. They even make stupid Dracula cloaks for humans to mess around with, fake vampire teeth and blood. Seems very cliche, but humans absolutely fucking love that stuff. It isn’t that expensive, but the quality makes it feel extremely expensive.</p><p>Their main focus is obviously vampires though. Vintage fashion, pajamas, shampoos, bathing accessories, sun screens, hair dye, sunglasses, skin care products — because apparently vampires had different skin and hair than human, which made sense, and they couldn’t use normal moisturizer for their skin or bleach for their hair — you name out, they probably make it. Even watches, and coffins. Some vampires just preferred to keep it old-style and sleep in those, and Hongjoong really was in no place to judge them. He was really interested in fashion, human and vampire, and Vempire was a name that just kept popping up no matter where he went. His favorite products of Vempire right now were probably the seriously made cloaks and corsets. He’d love to wear one of those. It’s not like he isn’t allowed to, but he certainly would get weird looks. It doesn’t matter, though, because he can’t afford them anyway. While Vempire’s human products were rather cheap, their actual products were not. Some of them were extremely expensive, aimed towards the richer vampires, for example the cloaks Hongjoong had been admiring. Others were in the middle, sort of overpriced but not too much to really complain about it, and still affordable anyway.</p><p>He crawled over to his phone, which laid abandoned on the couch, and picked it up. Before he could overthink and scare himself away from this opportunity, he typed in the number that was displayed in the end, which was the number he was supposed to call if he was interested in the position, and hit the call button. His heart beating so quickly, he was sure that his neighbor downstairs, which happened to be a vampire, could hear it. His hands were extremely clammy and he was almost scared that he’d end up dropping the phone because of it.</p><p>It rang once, twice, and a third time. Then it stopped, and a voice spoke up.</p><p>
  <em>“Hello, this is Choi San speaking, HR director of Vempire. How can I help you?”</em>
</p><p>Hongjoong swallowed the lump in his throat, took one deep breath and spoke up.</p><p>“Good morning, sir. My name is Kim Hongjoong. I’m calling about the ad for the secretary position in the newspaper. I know it’s been a few days since the newspaper, and thus the ad, got published, but I was hoping that maybe I could still score an interview?”</p><p>
  <em>“Well, isn’t luck on your side? The position is still free! An interview you say? Of course! When would you like to come in?”</em>
</p><p>This man’s, Choi San he introduced himself as, voice was oddly comforting to him. It was a little deeper than Hongjoong’s voice, and definitely smoother, almost having a velvety sound to it. The nerves that were driving him crazy beforehand slowly calmed down at the sound of it.</p><p>“I’m sadly only free today, but I don’t know if-“</p><p>
  <em>“Is 2PM good, then? I don’t wish to meet up before lunch or during it. I don’t want to ruin your meal, after all.”</em>
</p><p>“2PM is great, I can do that!”</p><p>
  <em>“Alright, Hongjoong-ssi. I’ll see you at 2PM. Simply come to Vempire and say you are here to speak with me about the job. Don’t be late! He hates it when people aren’t on time.”</em>
</p><p>“O-Oh, okay.. Uh, I won’t be late! Thank you. See you soon, goodbye!”</p><p><em>“Until later, Hongjoong-ssi!” </em>The call ended.</p><p>Hongjoong stared at his phone in disbelief, his mouth open and eyes wide. He really managed to score himself an interview. Now, all he needed to do was make himself look like he actually gets a decent amount of sleep and doesn’t have a caffeine addiction, and actually get the position.</p><p>As he was rubbing shampoo into his hair, he kept replaying the conversation he had with San in his head, unable to wipe the grin off his face. Maybe life would be nice to him, just this once. He turned around to rinse his hair out, “Wait.” His eyes opened, confusion taken over his features, “Who the fuck is ‘he’?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>welcome to my first full fic! I hope you’ll enjoy it. the story will contain certain triggering topics, but don’t worry, I’ll put a warning before the chapter if anything comes up.</p><p>if you like this, I also have some other works that you could check out while you wait for an update! self promotion haha. I will try to update at least once a week, though, I can’t promise anything.</p><p>but thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. comments and kudos are always appreciated. bye, bye!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Desperation Makes a Man</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was one thing that Hongjoong really disliked, and that was disappointing people. That did not mean he was a people pleaser. People, in this context, were people close to him, people important to him. His family, his friends, at one point even the nice, old lady from the first floor that often made him meals when he first moved into his apartment. The thought of them being disappointed in him irked him in many ways, and just that simple thought of it always caused him to do better than the best, which might’ve lead him to overworking and stressing about grades he really didn’t need to stress about, but at least the people around him were happy.</p><p>And yet, no matter how much he hated being the reason of someone’s disappointment, he was often disappointed in himself. About certain choices, his current life style — even if there was nothing to nag on, Hongjoong found something to be disappointed about. He was too harsh on himself, his friends would say, and sometimes he found himself agreeing, wishing that he could just change his ways and relax once in a while, to go easy on himself and everything surrounding him. But that just wasn’t him. If he didn’t work harder than hard, better than the best, he didn’t feel right. As exhausting as it was, it was ten times better than feeling disappointed in himself.</p><p>Those were the reasons why he arrived exactly half an hour early to his job interview, with his heart beating way faster than it had done earlier that day. Seriously, Hongjoong felt like he was about to explode, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.</p><p>His outfit was nice, but not over the top. He didn’t own suits or anything alike, so he was wearing jeans, his best pair at that. He only wore these for special occasions, like his mother’s birthday. He did own a white button up shirt, though, so he paired them together. Throw a his nicest coat and a black beret on top and his outfit was complete. Definitely could be better for an interview this important, but Hongjoong was about to get evicted, mind you, this was the best he could do.</p><p>The building itself was huge. It had to be around 20 stories high, at least. Scratch that, Hongjoong was sure he counted 25 stories. This was definitely Vempire. Hongjoong was a fairly average height male, standing proudly at 5’7 — 5’8 if he fixes his posture a little bit and gets on his toes — and sure, there were many occasions in his life where he might’ve felt a little small (for example, when they had to play basketball during PE in school and all the boys ran him over), but next to this monster of a building, he feels like an ant. He is just waiting for a giant shoe to appear and to step on him, successfully squishing him underneath its sole. What a wild fantasy he has.</p><p>He got pulled out of said fantasy as someone bumped into him, mumbling a quick monotone sorry at him as they kept walking. Well, he was kind of standing right before the entrance, so that was his fault, really. Checking the time on his phone, he noticed that it had already been fifteen minutes since he arrived. He stood here, gaping at this building like a fish out of water, for fifteen full minutes. God, he must have looked like such a fool.</p><p>There was no time to think about how much of an idiot he was, though. He had a job to get. With confident steps, he walked forward, through the glass doors and into the building.</p><p>For a second time that day, he stopped in his tracks to admire his surroundings. This floor, and probably a few others, were open for anyone. Visitors, vampires and humans, walked around, going on about their day. It was clear that the people here were from the top class of society, having way too much money to spend than they should have. Capitalism is the root of all evil. These people get to sit on their ass all day and make more money than Hongjoong could in a year of hard work. The least they could do is donate, but no, they wish to spend their money on clothes they don’t even need. Hongjoong can’t complain too much, though. He doesn’t know these people, he can’t just judge them based off their status. Still, capitalism is the root of all evil.</p><p>There were shops, clothing and beauty products, for humans and vampires on this floor as well, and a cafeteria. Hongjoong didn’t need to look to know that blood would be served there. Different types, different temperatures and different ages. Certain vampires were very picky about what kind of blood they drink. He knew that from personal experience of a vampire sniffing at him, before pulling a disgusted face and muttering something about how he’s a “B disgrace”. Totally did not ruin his day, not at all. He didn’t choose his blood type.</p><p>Some sort of reception desk was right in the middle of the entrance hall, only several steps away from him. The confidence he has previously had in his steps and around himself disappeared as he made eye contact with the lady sitting behind the counter. She looked a little pale, but definitely not shade #FFFFFF kind of pale. Just the “I haven’t had blood running through my veins in years” kind of pale. There was no doubt that this lady was a vampire. He didn't know why he felt nervous, it wasn’t like she was glaring at him for interrupting her or anything. It was the opposite, actually, she was smiling at him. He was just extremely introverted, yeah, that was it.</p><p>“Hello, welcome to Vempire Headquarters. How may I help you?” Her tone was sweet, maybe a little too sweet, but that had to be her practiced costumer service voice.</p><p>“Oh, uh,” Hongjoong stammered over his words just for a second before he collected himself, “I am here for a job interview. I’m supposed to meet Choi San? At 2PM?”</p><p>She turned to her computer, “Your name, please?”</p><p>“Kim Hongjoong.”</p><p>It only took her a few seconds before she turned back to him, the smile still on her face. Hongjoong didn’t know whether it was fake or genuine. “Mr. Choi is expecting you. I will write you a permission slip so you will be able to enter the employee-only sections of the buildings. The interview will be on the 16th floor.”</p><p>That was easy. Hongjoong expected that he needed to show his ID or something, but then he realized, they agreed to meet up over phone, meaning Choi San had no idea what he looked like in the first place, just like he had no idea what Choi San looked like.</p><p>That caused him to turn back around after he took the piece of paper, opening his mouth to ask where exactly he needed to go, but the lady beat him to it. “Once you exit the elevators, turn to the right. Walk down the hallway until you are able to turn left, and then just look for his name next to the door. Have a wonderful day, sir.”</p><p>His eyes widened a little. She knew what he was going to ask? Vampires did have certain powers, he was aware of that, so could she .. No, that was ridiculous. It was just obvious that he was about to ask that. Still, he just needed to make sure.. <em>I pooped my pants. </em>No reaction. Either she was a great actor or he was just overthinking this. He was 90% sure he was overthinking this. So, he gave her a weak smile, despite her back being turned to him, and mumbled a quick thanks before speed walking towards the elevators, making it past security (at least, he thought it was security of some sort) thanks to the pass he had gotten, and his ID. They had to confirm he was actually Kim Hongjoong.</p><p>The office area wasn’t anything spectacular. It was just like a regular office area that one could find in any other building like this. White to light grey walls, and a dark grey carpet that decorated the floor of the halls. Hongjoong had to resist the urge to crouch down and touch the carpet, wanting to find out whether it was as soft as it looked or if it was an illusion, but alas, he did not. He would not make a fool out of himself before, during or after this interview.</p><p>Finding Mr. Choi’s office was easy. All he had to do was recall the directions given by the nice lady on the first floor and follow them. That is how he found himself in front of the door that would lead inside Mr. Choi’s office. Taking a deep breath, and repeating the phrase ‘You can do it!’ in his mind, he raised his hand up and knocked. Around five seconds of silence followed before a ‘come in!’ was heard. He opened the door and stepped inside, his eyes scanning the room immediately and laying upon a person. Mr. Choi, he assumed.</p><p>The man was incredibly handsome, and that was a fact. He had a slim face, strong cheekbones and jaw, and when he smiled at Hongjoong, he noticed that Mr. Choi had dimples as well. His body propositions were something Hongjoong could only dream off, his eyes failing to stay focused on the director’s face as he got up to greet him. This man probably had the slimmest waist Hongjoong had ever possibly seen, and he couldn’t help but feel just the tiniest bit jealous. How did he get to that waist size? Was it natural? And those legs.. He was basically everything that Hongjoong wanted to be at one point, and maybe still wants to be.</p><p>A hand reached out to him.</p><p>“Kim Hongjoong, right? You already know, but I’m Choi San. You called about the job position?” His voice sounded ten, no, scratch that, one hundred times better in real life. Hongjoong didn’t want him to ever stop talking.</p><p>He tried to sneakily wipe his damp hand before reaching out to shake Mr. Choi’s hand, but by the smile that grew on the other’s face, he probably failed being sneaky. Speaking of his face, it was that kind of pale as well. Another vampire.</p><p>“That’s me, yeah, haha. It’s nice to meet you, sir. I hope your day is going well.”</p><p>“It is going well, thank you. Have a seat, please!” He was being lead over to the chair in front of Mr. Choi’s desk, sitting down quietly as the vampire kept talking. “Would you like some water? Let me get you some water! I would offer coffee, but I would need to run across the hall for that.” Within the next seconds, a glass of water was put before him, and Mr. Choi went back around the desk to sit in his seat.</p><p>He wasn’t feeling thirsty, but he took a sip from the water anyway. Not wanting to seem rude, he quickly reminded himself to thank the vampire, to which he just received another one of those dazzling smiles. After that, the atmosphere in the room shifted a little.</p><p>“Let’s get on with it. You are here for an interview, after all. The position free is the one of a secretary. Mr. Kim, have you ever had any sort of experience in this field?”</p><p>Hongjoong had not. He had only worked several part-time jobs, much like the ones he was still working right now. Mr. Choi wrote something down after hearing his answer.</p><p>“Experience isn’t needed, much as the listing said. We are a little desperate to fill out this position, as it is kind of important to have a secretary. However, experience just would have been bonus points. You said you work in a grocery shop and a bar, correct? How do you handle persistent, nasty and rude costumers?”</p><p>He felt like this was a trick question. One wrong word, and he would lose all chance at this job. So, he carefully thought his words over before answering, “They can be quite annoying, but I try my best to stay calm and negotiate with them. If it is at the bar, and they refuse to leave me alone, I usually call over security and let them handle the intoxicated people. For the grocery store.. most of those kind of costumers are there. Some feel entitled to certain things, others feel the need to be rude for no reason, and as tempting as blowing up on them is, I stay calm and try to make sure the situation doesn’t escalate.”</p><p>The next question was about his strength and weaknesses.</p><p>“Some of my strengths are that I am able to learn pretty quickly and adapt to new environments or positions fairly easy. I had no history in bartending before my current bar job, but I managed to teach himself everything pretty quickly. I try my hardest to be on time to everything. I think I am pretty logical and know how to deal with stressful or weird situations. As for my weaknesses.. I have a hard time denying people of things and asking for help. I can be a little stubborn, so that would affect any group work I would need to do.”</p><p>Mr. Choi nodded, writing something down again. The interview went on like that, just like any normal interview does, and Hongjoong thought he was doing a pretty good job at this. He was being honest, not trying to make up lies to impress Mr. Choi in any way, and his answers were quick, smooth and smart-sounding. He had a very good feeling about this. Turns out, his gut feeling was right.</p><p>The vampire placed down whatever he had been writing on, leaning back into his chair with a smile, “You seem like you would be able to handle this job very well. However,” Oh no. There was a catch?, “there is a reason this job is still available. We cannot give it to just anyone, no matter how desperate we or they are. That is one reason. The other reason is that they did not fit into the picture like we first thought they would. The third reason is that they did not agree with the additional information and work.”</p><p>Hongjoong was confused. He thought this was simply a job to be secretary, right? Did he forget to read something? What in the world was Mr. Choi talking about now? Clearly sensing the human’s confusion about his words, Mr. Choi continued talking.</p><p>“Yes, you will be a secretary. Our CEO’s secretary. Basically, you will be his personal assistant. You will keep track of his schedule, his work organized, remind him of appointments.. inside and outside of work.” “What?” What did he have to do with the CEO’s after-work business?</p><p>“Secretary.. might not be the right word, Mr. Kim. We wish for you to be his personal assistant! He is a very busy man, and often loses track of timing, schedules, meetings. Especially with our newest project in the making. You won’t need to clean or cook for him, in case you are afraid of being treated like a maid. All you have to do is to remind him of things, to keep everything in his schedule organized and to follow him around like a lost puppy.”</p><p>“This sounds more like a babysitter job than being a secretary.” The words left his mouth before he could think and his eyes widened, thinking he just fucked this up. But the laugh that leaves Mr. Choi tells him otherwise.</p><p>“If you wish to call it that! But there are positives to this job, Mr. Kim. We will give you a new apartment, which will be closer to this building, as well as Mr. Park’s home. Your pay will cover every debt or cost you might need to take care of right now. And, if you accept this job offer, you will get your first pay sent to your account today. We will take care of your old apartment and jobs, so you won’t have to worry about that either. All you have to do is read and sign this contract, Mr. Kim.”</p><p>The director slid some papers over him, which he picked up and skimmed through. Maybe he should read more clearly, but this was a lot of text, and really, who actually read through a contract word for word? Nothing that would cause worry caught his eye, so he deemed this contract good enough. He didn’t need to think twice before signing it, officially accepting the job offer. He had debts, was gonna get evicted, and needed to still pay back his parents for everything they have done for him.</p><p>He handed the contract back with a small smile, Mr. Choi standing up to shake his hand.</p><p>“I am sure it’ll be a pleasure working with you, Mr. Kim. Or can I say Hongjoong, now that we are colleagues? If you ever need anything, I am simply a call or text away. On that note, make sure to give me your number later. For now, let’s go meet Mr. Park. He should be in the office by now.”</p><p>And Hongjoong was walking towards the elevator once more, though this time, Mr. Choi — or San, as he had suggested they go by first name basis now, was beside him, leading the way to Mr. Park. The CEO of Vempire.</p><p>Hongjoong knew what the CEO looked like, often having seen him in the news and on magazines. He was handsome, too, and of course, a vampire. He looked like he was around Hongjoong’s age, but the human knew better than that. Mr. Park was already over a hundred years old. Vampires just aged differently. He was probably going to look like a 22 year old for another couple hundred years, before he finally moved on to look like a 28 year old. Other than what he read and saw, he knew nothing about the CEO, or his new boss. He didn’t trust the things being written about him in severa news outlets, knowing exactly how the media works. They twist your words, make you seem like an overdramatic bitch, or someone that doesn’t care about anything in the world because you have money, publish it and ruin your image. Mr. Park has never spoken up about the things being written about him though, as far as Hongjoong was aware. It either meant that the CEO couldn’t care, or there was some truth behind everything. He hoped it wasn’t the latter. He did not want to work for some weird asshole.</p><p>The elevator’s ding brought him back to the real world, as well as San letting him know they arrived at the floor that Mr. Park would be on.</p><p>His heart went crazy for a nth time that day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sorry for the long wait. I have been kinda of just existing in the void even before I published this fic, but I’ll try to get the next chapter out quicker! thank you for your patience. none of this was proofread, so please excuse any mistakes!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Determination against Rudeness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hongjoong found himself walking down hallways for a second time that day, a few steps behind Mr. Choi. A few people passed them on their way, greeting San with a quick bow, but Hongjoong didn’t pay any attention to them. He was too busy preparing his greeting towards his boss in his head over and over again to pay any mind to the workers. He would be seeing the workers and greeting them every day from now on anyway, right? Or at least most of them. Not acknowledging them right now wasn’t gonna hurt him. They needed to continue on with their job anyway.</p><p>Wait.. Job.</p><p>He walked a little faster so he could tap San on the shoulder, causing the vampire to stop in his tracks and turn around, tilting his head. A silent way to ask the human what’s wrong.</p><p>“My jobs, what about them? Like, my other jobs. I’m supposed to be at the bar tonight. I can’t just call and quit, right? What do I do?” He really didn’t think this through. He can’t quit on such a short notice, that would be a horrible move. They wouldn’t be able to find a replacement for him this quick. Sure, it wasn’t an extremely busy club or anything, but it still had a fair share of people coming in and out, so Hongjoong’s presence was definitely needed.</p><p>A gentle hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality, San soon speaking up once he noticed that Hongjoong was no longer lost in his own thoughts, “Don’t worry about it. Give me your work’s number and I’ll handle everything. You just focus on <em>this</em> job. Your new and only job. I will call both of your <em>old</em> workplaces after introducing you to Seonghwa, alright?” Hongjoong could tell that the other wasn't done talking yet, but he paused to make sure that the human understood him so far. Hongjoong nodded.</p><p>“Good. Now..” San glanced around, stepping a little closer. “Don’t see this as gossip. It’s just a warning. Seonghwa can be.. a little rude, perhaps, at first. Especially towards mortals. He will warm up, just give him time and please don’t take anything he says personally. I promise you, the Seonghwa you are about to meet is just a facade. Give it time, be patient, and you’ll see what I mean. Hopefully before you get fired.” “What?” “Let’s go meet him.”</p><p>Before he could protest, because <em>what the fuck does he mean</em>, San started to walk again and he had no other choice than to shut up and catch up to him. It was barely a minute later when they came to a stop again, this time in front of a door. San knocked a few times, though he didn’t wait to hear any sort of confirmation for him to enter and simply opened the door right after knocking, something that definitely could get any other employee fired. But San wasn’t afraid of that, it seemed. He does have quite an important position, maybe that’s why.</p><p>“Seonghwa, hello! How are you?” The director greeted the man sitting at the desk as Hongjoong finally stepped into the room as well, glancing around and staying quiet.</p><p>It didn’t seem like his boss was going to look up from his work, at least, not until he stepped foot inside his office. It was a little weird how Mr. Park looked up the moment he smelled him. Actually, being smelled in general was really weird. It made Hongjoong feel a little self conscious, even though he was very much aware that he didn’t stink and they were simply smelling his blood. It never did much to reassure, though.</p><p>“Who’s this?” No hello, no hi, no answer to San’s question. He got straight to the point instead. Hongjoong couldn’t exactly blame him. If his parents or friends suddenly dragged a stranger into his own four walls, he would want to know who the stranger is too.</p><p>Something he didn’t want was for San to pull him closer to the desk. Something else he didn’t want was to be elbowed in his ribs, but it was just a reminder for him to bow and greet Mr. Park. Right, the greeting that he went over in his head oh so many times on the short way to the office. It was completely gone, causing him to stay bowed for longer than necessary.</p><p>He stumbled over his words when he finally straightened again, “Uh- Oh! My name, no- Hello? Hi, hey! My name is Kim Hongjoong. I am going to babysit- No! I mean, I’m so sorry. I’m going to be your new secretary. It’s very nice to pleasure you for work. No! I didn’t mean that, I meant that it’s nice to- I’ll stay quiet.”</p><p>He would have corrected himself, though the piercing gaze that Mr. Park was looking at him with made him quiet down. Maybe it was for the best. The less he talked, the less he could embarrass himself, even though after what he just said, he doubted he could possibly make this worse. At least, not through words. He heard San sigh next to him, probably pitying the mess that Hongjoong was right now.</p><p>Silence took over the office. It was uncomfortable and tense, almost to the point Hongjoong felt like he was being suffocated. Finally, after minutes (or seconds that felt like minutes), Mr. Park spoke up, “A human?”</p><p>Hongjoong cringed a little at the tone of the man’s voice. He definitely didn’t sound too happy with San’s choice. Matter of fact, he didn’t sound happy at all. Hongjoong was glad that he was still standing in this very office, and not being thrown back out into the street.</p><p>“Yes, a human. Listen, Seonghwa, he’s the best choice for this. Work keeps piling up, and I can’t work as your part-time secretary forever. I have my own department to take care of.” San responded, crossing his arms over his chest. “He is staying and that’s final. We already signed the contract. The same contract that also already has <em>your </em>signature.”</p><p>“I’m not going to have a human as my secretary. I need someone capable of handling this work. Someone who knows what they are doing. Not some weak mortal that will call in sick every other week.” Ouch. San really did not lie when he said that Mr. Park can be quite rude. And you know what? Hongjoong took it personally, which gave him the courage to speak up right as San opened his mouth.</p><p>”Mr. Park, I truly do understand that you wish for a vampire to take this position as working with your kind right by your side probably is way more comfortable, and it avoids misunderstandings and unnecessary complications, but I can assure you, I’ll handle everything just fine. I easily adjust to new situations and environments, so adjusting to you and this work won’t be a problem for me. I know how to work under a lot of stress and still keep things organized, and I’ll even show up with my entire body aching rather than calling in sick. You might think of me as weak, but I assure you I am not. The contract has been signed and I am staying. Hello, Mr. Park. I’m Kim Hongjoong, your new secretary and personal assistant. It’ll be a pleasure to work with you.”</p><p>Honestly, he was kind of expecting to get murdered, or at least yelled at for being so rude to his boss on the first day, but he tried his best to stay polite while getting his message across with no room to argue against him. It surprised him that he didn’t stumble over his words once when he had such a hard time introducing himself just several minutes ago. It seemed like he surprised the other two beings in his room as well, judging by the way San’s eyes were a little wider than usual, and Mr. Park had an eyebrow raised.</p><p>He startled when a sudden clap sounded to his left, looking over to see San grinning and clapping at him. He pointed at the human while looking at Mr. Park, “See? This is what I mean. He is perfect for this position. At least try to work with him. For one week! If you feel like he really doesn’t fit, you can fire him afterwards, even though we can’t really afford that right now with the upcoming releases and projects. Come on, Seonghwa.”</p><p>San won. Hongjoong knew it by the way Mr. Park’s shoulder dropped and he let out a defeated sigh. His piercing gaze was back on Hongjoong once more, causing the human to tense up. “One week. If I find the tiniest thing about you that I don’t like, about the way you work, about anything you do, you’re gone. Understood?”</p><p>“Yes, sir.”</p><p>“Good. San will show you your desk. I’ll bring you your first stack of work in a few minutes. I hope I won’t have to explain things twice to you.” And with that, he turned back to the papers he was previously working on. San gave him a gentle push, “The desk is right outside this office, you can’t miss it. Sit down, I’ll just talk to Seonghwa real quick.” Hongjoong nodded and left the office.</p><p>How he missed the desk when they first walked up to the office door was beyond him. They literally had to walk around it a little bit to even reach the office door. It was a stainless white color, with quite a lot of work space, probably for folders and papers. There was a computer already on it, though it was logged off, as well as a telephone and a black office chair behind it, which Hongjoong sat down on. The chair was the comfy kind, unlike the one he sat on during the times when he still had time to produce music. He looked around to make sure no one was coming before spinning around a couple of times, stopping before he got too dizzy. Despite being only a few meters away from Mr. Park’s office, he was completely unaware of the conversation happening inside.</p><p>“And?” San grinned at his old friend, causing the said male to roll his eyes as he had to stop his work once again. “And what?”</p><p>“Tell me, what do you think about him?”</p><p>“I have no opinion on him.”</p><p>“Oh, come on. Give me something.”</p><p>“You can be extremely annoying, did you know that?”</p><p>“Absolutely, it’s how I got to my position. I annoyed the last director so much that he left and gave the job to me.”</p><p>Seonghwa rolled his eyes for a second time, “That’s a lie. I was the one that promoted you.”</p><p>“Okay, fine. But come on, you have to have some sort of opinion or thought. Do you really think he won’t be able to do it?” San was not giving up until he got something out of Seonghwa.</p><p>The CEO groaned and placed his pen down, maybe a little harder than needed, as he answered San, “Fine. Oh my god. He seems determined. His introduction was an absolute mess, which makes me believe he lacks social skills or is unable to control his nerves. Either way, I’ll get him to fix that. And he has a pretty good fashion sense.”</p><p>It seemed like San never stopped smiling since Hongjoong’s little speech, “Which is important because we do mainly focus on fashion.”</p><p>“Yeah, sure. Now kindly get out of my office and show him how to log into the computer, or I will reduce your pay for this month.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t actually dare.”</p><p>“Five.. four..”</p><p>The office door closed before Seonghwa could count to three. He smirked, getting back to work again.</p><p>Hongjoong looked over as he heard the door close, seeing San stand with his back against it. The smile was back on the vampire’s face the moment he made eye contact with Hongjoong, previously having been replaced with a slight pout. He was not going to question it. Maybe this was just the way San behaved.</p><p>He clapped his hands together once and walked over to Hongjoong, standing next to him. “Alright! Let’s get you started. You can decorate the desk however you want, just attempt to not draw on it or you might get fired. When you come to work tomorrow, why not bring a few plants or pictures?”</p><p>Hongjoong didn’t own any plants or picture frames.</p><p>“I will try to get your ID done today, or at least before the week is over, so you can enter and exit without complications. The moment you log into the computer, you are able to view over Mr. Park’s schedule, as well as your own. That way you’ll also know when to get off work, and when to arrive every day. Here, let me show you..”</p><p>San had been attempting to log into the computer for ten minutes now, and he was yet to succeed. They only managed to get into the system when Mr. Park came out, thankfully being kind enough to help them, though Hongjoong was pretty sure the vampire just wanted him to get to work.</p><p>Eying the amount of paper work he had to do, a sigh passed his lips. “That’s not all.” Mr. Park’s tone barely changed since the first time they talked. “There will also be digital work. You need to write a few emails to certain departments, and order more materials. Start with whatever, but have everything finished at the end of the day.” He disappeared into his office again.</p><p>Hongjoong looked over at San, who simply gave him a little shrug before returning to explaining how the system worked.</p><p>It was gonna be a long day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>oooh, they finally met! it seems like seonghwa isn’t too fond of hongjoong, right? once again, nothing is proofread, so please excuse any mistakes. this chapter was originally way longer, but I cut it short so it won’t be too much all at once. I hope you liked it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Always Working Hard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hongjoong sometimes wished that he would do things differently, react in a better way, or say better things. There were many times where he wished he wasn’t so persistent about doing things alone when he obviously needed help, but then ended up being too stubborn to ask for the help that he needed, and also wanted. Sometimes, he was able to manage the things alone, and feel incredibly proud of himself. Other times, everything only went downhill and he would end up feeling frustrated to the point of tears. Only then would he reluctantly drag his feet to his parents or friends, and ask for their help.</p><p>He has not reached that point of frustration at work. Yet.</p><p>San had left him alone after explaining everything about the computer to him, which wasn’t really a lot. Hongjoong could have definitely figured it out himself, since he knows his way around electronics thanks to his dreams of being a producer, but he let the vampire show him everything anyway. It was kind of him to do so, and Hongjoong didn’t want to come across as some asshole that knew everything better. The computer also wasn't going to be the cause of his upcoming breakdown. It were the things he needed to do.</p><p>The work piled up, San had said, and he hadn’t lied. It had definitely been piling up, because there is no way on earth that a secretary usually had to do so much on their first work day. Did they just leave this alone and hope for a miracle to happen? Do they enjoy taking a risk like that? Apparently so.</p><p>It had been two hours since Hongjoong began his work, and he was barely even halfway done. This wouldn’t be a problem, because it is just his first day. Other bosses wouldn’t expect him to be at top speed. However, Mr. Park sadly wasn’t “other bosses”. He was Mr. Park, a grumpy vampire that very much disliked the fact that a human was now his secretary and personal assistant, and he probably disliked Hongjoong himself as well. Mr. Park had told him to finish all of the work he had placed on his desk by the end of the day. Whether there were consequences if he failed to do so was unknown, but he really did not want to risk it. Not when the vampire is ready to fire him at any moment.</p><p>Another problem of his was that there were papers, and files, that needed to be delivered to different departments and people. Hongjoong had no idea where anything was. Asking San for help was out of the picture, the director having gone back to work long ago. He could definitely ask Mr. Park, but he would rather run through the entire company building to find each person himself than to talk to that man alone.</p><p>It felt a little rude to ask every department to send a person up to him over email, but he needed to get the papers and files to everyone somehow. He will just stay after work hours every other day to walk around the building and familiarize himself with the layout. That way he should know where what is by next week, at least. Writing emails to everyone also was a little more work on his poor, aching hands, but nobody ever said this job was gonna be easy and relaxing.</p><p>A part of him had the sense to feel bad for Mr. Park. If this is how much work his secretary had to do, Hongjoong couldn’t even imagine how much work Mr. Park had on his hands. Though, maybe, with the amount of work he was forced to do on his first day, Mr. Park just let his secretary handle <em>everything </em>while he could relax in his office. He shook his head, frowning. No, Mr. Park worked hard, that’s for sure. That’s why he needs someone half as, if not just as competent as him to be his secretary. The way he judged him when he first introduced himself let him know that while he might be an asshole, he takes work very seriously. Hongjoong can respect that. His position isn’t something where he can just dance around and half-ass everything.</p><p>Thankfully, the emails didn’t take him too long, and within the next half hour, several people came up to his desk to receive specific files. He apologized to every single person, explaining that he didn’t know where their department was, and thankfully most of them were understanding. He ignored that one comment from the middle aged man about how he “should move his ass to them next time”. Maybe working in retail was worth it after all, because Hongjoong put on his best costumer-friendly smile and apologized for the inconvenience once more. The moment the elevator doors closed behind the man, Hongjoong flipped him off. Through this he was also able to see that quite a few humans worked here. Most of the people that came to him were humans, actually, including that middle aged man.</p><p>Once the last person came to collect their files, he allowed himself to relax into the chair, closing his eyes for a second. He could also feel the stress crawling up his back and settling down in his shoulders. But even then, he would pick this job over his other two any day. Not because of the pay, though. Okay, maybe a little bit because of the pay. Actually, it was just the pay. San did say he would transfer the first pay to his bank account today. It was gonna be worth it. He could live comfortably and pay his parents back. The latter thought made him smile. Him finally paying them back would show them that he was doing fine by himself, would cause them to worry less and hopefully would make feel him less bad for having lied to them all this time. Finally, it was his turn to give something b-</p><p>“Slacking off on your first day? Tsk. Expected better from you, Secretary Kim.”</p><p>The voice startled Hongjoong, his eyes flying open as he sat up straight, staring up into the face of his boss. When did he even come out of his office? Was sneaking around one of his specialties? Or was Hongjoong just that lost in his thoughts, yet again?</p><p>Mr. Park raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for Hongjoong to explain himself. Once the human realized what he wanted, he rushed to do just that.</p><p>“I wasn’t slacking off, sir. I have finished the papers I deemed most important and written all the emails you informed me about. I was just resting my eyes for a minute. I apologize if it seems like I was slacking off, but I assure you, I’m not. Please don’t fire me.” Hongjoong was not above begging. Thankfully, it seemed like he didn’t have to.</p><p>“I’ll let this slide. I’ve come to check on your work, also to talk to you about a complaint.”</p><p>Hongjoong’s eyes widened. A complaint? On his first day of work? Who in the world would do that?</p><p>It only took him a second to realize who probably complained about him.</p><p>That middle aged man from earlier. Hongjoong suppressed the urge to groan and roll his eyes, not wanting to dive even deeper into Mr. Park’s bad side. But seriously, <em>fuck that middle aged man.</em></p><p>“Judging by your expression, you know what I am talking about. I want to reassure you that there won’t be any trouble for you.” Mr. Park spoke as he rounded the table, coming to stand next to Hongjoong. “Mr. Son is a stuck up asshole. He always acts like this. Make him come up to collect documents always from now on. If he’s rude to you about it, let me know.” He was looking through the paper work still on Hongjoong’s desk while he spoke, not looking at the secretary once.</p><p>That definitely wasn’t something he expected to hear from Mr. Park. He expected a scolding, maybe a threat to be fired, but not whatever this was. He was confused. Just three hours ago, Mr. Park had told him to get lost, and now he was being sort of nice to him? Well, he definitely was not going to take it for granted, that’s for sure. Who knew how rare occasions like these would become?</p><p>Mr. Park began to talk once again, turning to face him, “I’m surprised. You have been doing quite well, it seems. However, I do expect these ones to be finished on my desk at the end of the day. You can leave the rest for tomorrow.” While Hongjoong was busy thinking about Mr. Park’s odd words, the said man had chosen a few papers and piled them together, placing them in front of Hongjoong. “Yes, of course, sir. They’ll be finished soon.”</p><p>“Good. Make sure to keep an eye on the schedule, too. You are here to remind me of my meetings as well, after all. It would be a shame if I missed one because of you.” And just like he appeared from, he disappeared into his office again, closing the door behind him.</p><p>Mr. Park was weird. Not a creepy kind of weird, just.. weird. Odd. One second he was semi-nice, and the next all emotion left his body. Not that he really showed any emotion while being semi-nice, anyway.</p><p>There was <em>something</em> about Mr. Park that made Hongjoong curious. He was like a mystery to him, and as much as Hongjoong wanted to solve that mystery and satisfy his curiosity, he knew that it was more than likely not going to happen. Mr. Park still wasn’t fond of him, probably only being polite due to work and professionalism, so there was no way Hongjoong could get any closer and figure out what that <em>something</em> was. He sighed softly. There was no use thinking about it. He had work to do.</p><p>Looking down at the papers, he grabbed his pen and got to work. Only to stop right before he began to write down the first word after skimming through everything. Half of this was already finished. The handwriting had to be Mr. Park’s as these papers came from him. Only he had access to these beforehand. There was nothing really shocking about this, though. Obviously, Mr. Park would end up giving him papers he himself had already been working on.</p><p>Hongjoong raised an eyebrow when he got to the second paper. It was halfway done already as well. Now <em>that</em> did spark Hongjoong’s curiosity. He flipped to the next page and.. again, things were already filled out. It didn’t take a genius to connect two and two, though Hongjoong would like to think he was quite a genius sometimes. Mr. Park had flipped through the work the secretary had left, chosen the documents he had already started working on, and made Hongjoong finish them, essentially making him do less work than he needed to.</p><p>While it was sweet of him, and the human definitely found himself smiling, it only continued to confuse him. What was up with that vampire boss of his? Did he maybe feel bad about judging Hongjoong the way he did without knowing him, and that’s why he was doing this? It was the only thing Hongjoong could really think of. It would make sense, and if this was some form of apology for that, then he definitely accepted it. The smile stayed on his face as he got back to work.</p><p>He was just finishing up the last paper when the telephone rang. Ah, right, he would be the one to receive the calls now. He put his pen down, reaching over to pick the earpiece of the telephone up, placing it to his ear.</p><p>“Thank you for calling Vempire, this is Secretary Kim speaking. How can I help you?” Nobody told him what to say when someone called, but the words just rolled off his tongue flawlessly and without a struggle. For once, he didn’t make himself look, sound or feel like an idiot.</p><p>A male voice answered after a few seconds, “<em>Secretary? Did Mr. Park finally get a new one?</em>” The man sounded surprised, but just slightly.</p><p>“Indeed so, sir. Who am I talking to and how can I help you?”</p><p>“<em>My name is Dongho Shin. Mr. Shin, if you wish. I would like to speak to Mr. Park.</em>”</p><p>“One second sir, I will see if he is busy.” Hongjoong placed the telephone on the table, not able to take it with him since it was connected to the keyboard / number pad with a wire. A little old-style, but he liked it.</p><p>He stood up, walking up to Mr. Park’s office door and knocking gently, waiting for affirmation to enter before opening the door.</p><p>“Mr. Park?”</p><p>The man looked up from his desk, raising an eyebrow at Hongjoong.</p><p>“There is a Mr. Dongho Shin on the phone. He sees he wishes to speak to you. Should I transfer the call?”</p><p>At the mention of Mr. Shin’s name, the vampire’s face changed. A frown replaced his otherwise neutral expression and he scoffed, eyes turning back to that icy glare Hongjoong was slowly growing familiar with. He sounded just the tiniest amount of angry when he gave the human an answer, “Tell him I’m already in a call.”</p><p>He clearly wasn’t. But what he says, goes, so Hongjoong nodded and retreated, closing the office door behind him and rushing back to the telephone on the desk.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, but Mr. Park is currently already in a call. Should I let him know to call you back?”</p><p>“<em>Ah, that brat.</em>” Mr. Shin huffed a laugh, like he was aware that Hongjoong had just lied to him. “<em>Don’t worry about it. I can tell he’s oh so busy. Thank you, Secretary Kim. I hope we meet soon.</em>”</p><p>“Have a wonderful day. Goodbye.” Not caring how rude it was to end the call so abruptly, Hongjoong pulled a face as he place the telephone back down on its holder. ‘<em>I hope we meet soon’</em>? Yeah, definitely not. If Mr. Park didn’t like this man, he definitely didn’t want to meet Mr. Shin. And judging by the way Mr. Park reacted to his name, he <em>definitely </em>did not like Mr. Shin. With the way his mood and expression immediately went sour, Hongjoong would guess he even hated this man. As much as he wanted to ask about it, he knew it wasn’t exactly any of his business. And if his was his business, then he would surely learn about how and why soon enough.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Hongjoong managed to finish more work than Mr. Park had expected him to, and he proudly placed the folders and documents on the CEO’s desk when he had called him in to do so. The smile on his face couldn’t be wiped off, even if he was a little scared that his boss might find something wrong with the work and make him redo everything. However, Mr. Park simply glanced through and over everything, before he nodded in approval.</p><p>“I’m not sure if you are trying to prove that you can handle it, or you’re just truly a hard worker, but I must say that I’m surprised. You’ve managed to get all this done in one day, without any help or guide. I’ll fix any mistakes you might’ve made. How about the products you were meant to order?” Mr. Park looked up after organizing the documents a little more.</p><p>Hongjoong slightly puffed his chest out, “I have ordered the colors of velvet that you said I needed to, as well the other items listed. I have emailed the confirmation of the order to you, sir.”</p><p>Mr. Park nodded once more, glancing over at his computer, “Right. Well.. I believe that is all for today. You can go home. I will be able to handle everything myself now. Most of our employees have already left as well. Please find Mr. Choi. He is going to take you home.”</p><p>He must have showed confusion on his face, because without needing to say anything, his boss clarified what he meant.</p><p>“Your <em>new</em> home. I’m sure Mr. Choi has told you about, yes? He will drive you to your old home so you can gather everything together and then transport you and your things to the new apartment. Have a good night, Secretary Kim. I’ll see you in the morning.”</p><p>With the clear intend of ending the conversation right there, Mr. Park dismissed him. He didn’t pay any attention to Hongjoong as the human stood around for a few moments longer before slowly turning around and leaving the office. Huh. Mr. Park really had just praised him for his work and sent him home like that. For a second, the thought of this being some sort of trick to see how willingly Hongjoong would go hone if he were dismissed early crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed that thought right back where it came from. That was absolutely ridiculous. Mr. Park wouldn’t go to that length, it was absolutely silly. Hongjoong just managed to surprise him by showing him how hard he can work.</p><p>After logging out, organizing the few papers left on his desk and shutting everything off, he made his way towards the elevator, knowing which floor he had to go to in order find San. He didn’t expect to be greeted by the male the moment the elevator doors opened.</p><p>The vampire’s eyes lit up, a smile appearing on his face and making his dimples pop at the sight of the human, “Hongjoong! I was just about to come and get you. I haven’t gotten your ID yet, I forgot that I would need a picture of you for that, but I’ll make sure it’s fine by the end of this week. I promise you that.”</p><p>San entered the elevator, clicking the button that would take them to the first floor. The shops, cafeteria and everything was closed already, only the security guards, a few employees and the lady at the register left in the once extremely busy place, leaving the building in a stark contrast to what it was just several hours ago when Hongjoong first set foot into it. The man next to him still hasn’t stopped talking.</p><p>“How was your first day? I hope Seonghwa wasn’t too hard on you. Remember, nothing he says is actually something he means. Er, well, he does mean it, just not as harsh as he says it. By the way..” Hongjoong decided to tune the vampire out when the two of them got into his car, keeping his head turned to the passenger window as he watched the sky turn darker and darker. Eventually, San fell silent.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>His new place was quite a distance away from his old place, which wasn’t a surprise to him. His old place was in some shady part of Seoul, without any security that would keep robbers or murders out. His new place, however, had a whole security guard at the entrance, another one at the elevators and an silent alarm that would start to go off if he entered his passcode wrong three times in a row.</p><p>To say that he was just a little overwhelmed with the sudden environment change was an understanding. Going from a barely functioning shower to a bathroom bigger than his old bedroom was definitely a change that he needed a hot moment to adjust to. San had dropped him off and showed him up, letting him know the pass code before he left to go to his own apartment. Yeah, the vampire lived in the same building. The more you know. Not that Hongjoong really minded. In case anything happened, or he needed something, he just had to go two levels up and knock on a door.</p><p>The new place was filled with everything he needed, which he was grateful for. He absolutely hated furniture shopping, and hated building furniture together even more. But everything being here already, handed to him on a silver plate made this all seem even more surreal. If he slapped himself a few times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, absolutely nobody saw it. (He wasn’t dreaming, by the way.)</p><p>He left the boxes near the entrance, sudden exhaustion coming over him as the events of the day caught up to him. For once, he didn’t need to fight off this feeling because he still had to be somewhere. He was done with work. He didn’t need to force himself to a night shift at a bar full of drunk and horny people. He could simply change into his pjs, fall onto his king sized — yes, <em>king sized</em>, isn’t that absolutely insane? — bed and fall asleep. What used to be his wish after an exhausting week of work finally came true, and if he weren't so god damn tired, he would have honestly started crying. But right now, all he wanted to do was snuggle up between those blankets and drift off into dreamland, leaving every thought and the bizarre events of today (and the boxes near the front door) behind him.</p><p>That’s exactly what he did.</p><p>He fell asleep with a soft smile on his face, sleep wrapping around him like a warm blanket before devouring him whole.</p><p>Hongjoong had a dreamless sleep that night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>this chapter was supposed to be out like a day or two ago, but my mental health decided to dip and I haven’t been feeling too good. it’s here now though! as usually, no proofreading! please excuse any mistakes. I hope you are enjoying the journey so far!!</p><p>and WOWOW ateez comeback!! are you guys excited?? I’m so happy that we will get to hear mingi’s voice in the songs at least!! they just released that there will be 3 versions again and well, there goes my money :’) let’s stream the mv when it comes out and make this their biggest comeback yet!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Rise and Shine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hongjoong woke up with a gasp, throwing the blankets off of him and jumping out of bed.</p><p>“Fuck, fuck, I’m gonna be late, I’m gonna get so fired. What time is it?!” He turned to look at the digital clock on his nightstand as he rushed over to his closet, only to stop dead in his tracks as his eyes traveled from his new clock to his new bed, which was in his very new bedroom, and that bedroom was in his very new apartment. Right. He didn’t work in some lumpy grocery store anymore. He didn’t have to get yelled at by old ladies anymore. He now worked as a secretary and personal assistant for none other than Park Seonghwa, CEO of Vempire. And he was nowhere near late, the digital numbers displaying that it was 5.57 AM.</p><p>A hand traveled to his side and he pinched himself, hard, immediately flinching away from the contact. Okay, he was awake. This wasn’t a dream, no matter how unrealistic it seemed. Or maybe it was a dream and he was just able to feel pain.</p><p>His phone buzzed, and he sat back down on the bed, taking it off the nightstand to check the message. His eyes widened as he saw the battery percentage, realizing he passed out without plugging the device into the charger. He was thankfully smart enough to not toss it into a box full of other shit and instead placed it safely into his jacket, which luckily laid on the floor right in front of him.</p><p>Now that his phone was plugged in and staying alive, he could finally check the messages.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Choi San</strong>
</p><p>» Good morning, Hongjoong! I never managed to tell you yesterday, but I handled the situation with your old jobs. Please bring a picture of you to me today, so I can finally get your ID started. See you at work! «</p><p> </p><p>Hongjoong stared at the message for a good few seconds, feeling the energy radiating off of it. How can someone be this excited at, he took a closer look at the screen to see what time San sent this message, at 5 AM? Maybe he already had his first cup of coffee. Can vampires even drink coffee? Maybe some caffeine spiked blood?</p><p>His phone buzzed again in his hand, though this time it wasn’t San texting him. He checked the screen, which locked itself again by now, and his eyes almost fell out of his head.</p><p> </p><p><em>8 missed calls from </em><strong>Giant Baby</strong>.</p><p>
  <strong>Giant Baby</strong>
</p><p>» You aren’t home. Hongjoong, please reply. I’m really worried. «</p><p>
  <em>41 more messages.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He pressed one of the missed calls notifications, holding the phone to his head and listening to it beep once, twice. He completely forgot to let his best friend, and colleague — or rather, ex-colleague, know about everything that happened. Yesterday was just so crazy that he didn’t even think about doing so.</p><p><em>“Hongjoong! Oh my god, thank god. Where in the world are you? Why didn’t you answer any of my texts? I know your jobs keep you busy, but you always text me when you get home from the bar. I thought something happened to you. I was just on my way to the police station actually, to report you as missing. Are you in trouble? In danger? Did you simply pass out on me? Are you at work yet? Should I come by? Why aren’t you home? Did someone take you home? Are you getting laid? Without me? I-“</em> It seemed like the male on the other end was never gonna stop talking, so Hongjoong had to jump in and cut him off himself.</p><p>“Yunho, Yunho- Calm down, oh my god.” He laughed a little at all the questions, his brain not even being able to process half of them before a new one was thrown at him. “I’m fine, I promise you. There’s no danger around. I’m so sorry for not texting you all day yesterday, but I have a good reason! Yesterday was crazy. Okay, so, basically..”</p><p>Hongjoong told Yunho everything that happened as he got ready for his day. How he checked his mail, found the letter of his landlord, and the newspaper. How he got an interview and immediately began to work the same day, and who his boss is. Yunho would make little comments, or just tiny noises of ‘ah’ ‘oooh’ ‘huh?!’ here and there to show that he was listening very closely and interested in whatever Hongjoong had left to say.</p><p><em>“You mean to tell me, you work for one of the biggest vampire based companies in South Korea? Actually, scratch that, probably the </em>whole world!<em> And the CEO is an asshole?”</em></p><p>“Yunho!” Hongjoong scolded his friend, a frown on his face. The phone has been on speaker for a while, now laying on the counter top of his dramatically big kitchen, around 70% charged, as he was making himself a sandwich. “You’re outside, be careful what you say. Not only can you start unnecessary rumors and get sued, but you can cause me to lose my job.”</p><p>Hongjoong could hear the pout in Yunho’s voice as the other spoke up again, lowering his voice a little as if it really did anything, “<em>Sorry</em>,<em> sorry. It’s just.. so bizarre, you know? Wasn’t there a time where you thirsted over the guy?”</em></p><p>He wasn’t even drinking anything, and yet he still managed to choke at Yunho’s words. “What? No! I just saw him on the cover of a magazine one day and said I’d like to take him out.”</p><p>
  <em>“So, you’d like to date him.”</em>
</p><p>“Take him out could also mean murder him.”</p><p>
  <em>“You are planning to murder Park Seonghwa and take over Vempire and become the richest man alive?”</em>
</p><p>“Yunho! Stop!”</p><p>His friend’s laughter rang through the phone, <em>“Calm down, I’m changing into work clothes, there’s nobody around. You know, </em>I<em> still have to deal with entitled costumers sadly. For once, my luck has left me.”</em></p><p>Hongjoong cringed a little at his words. It wasn’t exactly his fault, he was aware, but he still felt bad that he left Yunho all alone at that grocery store. The pay wasn’t too bad, and the manager was pretty alright too, but the costumers were absolutely awful sometimes. Usually, Yunho and him would talk about them behind their back, make fun of their looks and voices the moment the grumpy old ladies and men turned around to leave after having talked to the manager. But now, he was gone, and Yunho had to deal with all of that alone.</p><p>“You know, you could just quit, right? I mean, your family is rich. <em>You’re</em> rich. You technically don’t need the job.”</p><p>
  <em>“Indeed, we are rich. But we wouldn’t be rich if it weren’t for my parent’s hard work. I’m not trying to live on my ass off their money, Joong, you know that. I want to work too. I want to do as good as them. Jesus Christ, this jacket is still too damn small. I told them about it last week!”</em>
</p><p>Hongjoong hummed softly as he sipped on his coffee, quite pleased with the taste. It’s definitely better than the cheap brand he had used all this time. He huffed a little laugh at Yunho’s complaint, though the rest of his little speech made him smile. That was his Yunho indeed. Despite being born into a family that was in the upper middle class, or the low high class by now, he was extremely humble and sweet, always willing to work a bit harder today than the day before. He never turned down anyone that asked for help, would often spend the rest of his allowance on different charities or give it to Hongjoong. That reminded him, he’d definitely need to start paying Yunho back as well, for everything he has done for him. That tall idiot has saved his ass from starvation quite a few times.</p><p>“Hey, Yunho? When does your shift end?”</p><p>
  <em>“Uh, I only work till 3 today, why?”</em>
</p><p>“Let’s get dinner. I get off work around 6, probably. If it’s a little later, I’ll let you know. It’s on me.”</p><p>
  <em>“My, my. Look at you. Making more pay than the average person for a day and already asking me out to a dinner date. Where are we going? Perhaps some fancy French restaurant? Or do you prefer Italian? Perhaps Chinese, Japanese?”</em>
</p><p>“Whatever you desire, Yun.”</p><p>He glanced over as his phone buzzed again, subconsciously checking the time as well. It was 6.45AM. He should get going soon, probably. He swiped the screen down, checking the notifications.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» I’m outside, Mr. Kim. Please come down, so we can head to work. «</p><p><br/>Why was his boss coming to pick him up? That was a little weird, and Hongjoong felt like it should be an invasion of privacy again, until he remembered that he was basically Mr. Park’s personal assistant, which means that work never really ends for him in that aspect. At least the pay was good.</p><p>“Hey, Yun. I gotta go. My boss is here to pick me up.”</p><p>
  <em>“Ooh~ Hey, remember that time you went on a 20 minute rant about how hot he is, and how you wish to find someone like that?”</em>
</p><p>“What the- That was once! How do you even remember that? And he is very handsome, I would like my partner to be as breathtaking as him. It would cover up my very own ugliness and everyone would stop paying attention to me!”</p><p>Yunho snorted, <em>“Oh, shut up. You know you’re hot.”</em></p><p>“Hm.. yeah, you’re right. I’m hot. But I’m about to be extremely fired if I don’t get going now. Have a great day! Bye!”</p><p><em>“Love you, Joong!”</em> “Disgusting.” They shared one last laugh and the call ended.</p><p>He flushed the rest of his coffee down the sink with a big frown on his face, sad to see his precious coffee go like that. He grabbed the rest of his sandwich, shoved it into his mouth and hurried to put on his shoes, jacket and grab his wallet, phone and charger (just in case), as well as the photo for San, and left the apartment.</p><p>Surprisingly, he was not met with a full on limo in front of his apartment complex. It seemed to be a pretty fancy car either way, though. He was expecting Mr. Park to sit in the backseat, having hired a chauffeur to take him to his destination, but to his surprise, his boss was sitting in the driver’s seat. Which also meant that he actually was coming to pick Hongjoong up personally.</p><p>“If you have finished staring, Mr. Kim, I would appreciate it if you could get into the car already. We do not have all day.” Just like yesterday, Mr. Park’s voice had no real emotion in it as he spoke to Hongjoong. Well, it did have one emotion right now: annoyance, which was the reason for Hongjoong to quickly get into the passenger seat and buckle up.</p><p>He quietly ate his sandwich as Mr. Park began to drive, and they didn’t speak throughout the entire duration of it. Whether Hongjoong was thankful for that or not was unsure. It felt awkward, but making small talk might could’ve have made it even more awkward. Maybe silence was the best.</p><p>The silence continued as they pulled into what Hongjoong assumed was the private parking lot of the company building, judging by the security that was at the entrance. It continued as they got out of the car and walked into the building through the main entrance.</p><p>Hongjoong startled when a flash of light hit his eyes, soon followed by a few more and several questions being thrown at them. Reposters and journalists, right. They were allowed in here as well, he guessed, remembering having seen them around yesterday already as well. And of course they were going to take pictures, since Hongjoong was a new face walking beside the CEO of Vempire. He was not ready to be all over the news and magazines, rumored to be Park Seonghwa’s love interest.</p><p>“Mr. Park, who is this man?” “Mr. Park, is this your partner?” “Mr. Park, please give us some insights about Vempire’s next step.” “CEO Park, is it true that you and Model Lee Minseo are in a relationship?”</p><p>Hongjoong opened his mouth to identify himself, to let them know that he was merely Mr. Park’s secretary and nothing more, but the vampire beat him to it. However, he didn’t once stop walking as he talked, and Hongjoong only now noticed the hand on his arm, pulling him along and through the small crowd of nosy people.</p><p>“Mr. Kim is merely my newest secretary and assistant. There is no dating rumors to be made out of this, and I wish for you to keep his name and face out of the media or else we might have to take legal consequences. Thank you for your interest, have a great day.”</p><p>He gave them an obviously fake smile as they passed the doors that would lead them to the elevator, a place where only staff and people with permits were allowed to go, meaning the reporters and journalists alike were left behind. Once they were in the elevator, the vampire let go of Hongjoong’s arm and pressed the button that would take them to the floor.</p><p>“I hope you realize that will be part of your life now. People will try to make up some stories about how we are having an affair to make me look unprofessional and to simply spread rumors for everyone’s entertainment.” Mr. Park didn’t seem annoyed as he said this, though the little raise of his eyebrow told Hongjoong that his boss was at least a little irritated by their behavior, despite having dealt with this for a while now. Perhaps it gets frustrating, especially on the long run.</p><p>Unprofessional behavior, though? He heard that before somewhere.</p><p>“Is that why your last secretary had to be fired? Because they made up too many rumors?” Hongjoong turned to look at Mr. Park, tilting his head a little. He didn’t expect the vampire to also turn to him, a little chuckle escaping him. The kind of chuckle you make when someone just told a bad joke but your mother threatened you to behave and be nice or else she will cut your allowance, meaning nothing about whatever he was about to say was funny.</p><p>“No. She had to be fired because she partnered up with a big news outlet to get me mixed up into some big dating drama. She proceeded to make advances towards me, all for five minutes of fame of being my ‘fling’ when I made it very clear that I am not interested.”</p><p>Hongjoong’s mouth formed into a little ‘o’ and the vampire turned back to the front as the elevator dinged, signaling that they have arrived at the right floor. Mr. Park turned around after a few steps, raising an eyebrow at Hongjoong, who was still standing in the elevator.</p><p>“Are you not coming?”</p><p>“Well, I actually have to go to San- I mean, Mr. Choi, for my-“</p><p>“You can do that later. You still have a lot of work to do, Secretary Kim. And I’ll remind you, you’re still in your test week. Do something I don’t like, and-“</p><p>“-Get fired, I know.” The human cut his boss off, rolling his eyes. He thought that Mr. Park had already turned back around, which is why he was bold enough to even roll his eyes in the first place, but maybe he should have actually looked up from the floor before doing so. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been made with a glare that made him stumble backwards.</p><p>“I recommend being careful about your attitude towards me, Secretary Kim. I am your boss, after all. Not to mention, you are just a small, weak and slow human. I will let this one slide, but if I hear or see anything like that again today, consider yourself done for. And do not cut me off again. I am capable of finishing my own sentences. Now get to work, <em>mortal</em>.”</p><p>“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.” Hongjoong quickly bowed to Mr. Park before he rushed past him, not even thinking about lingering around longer. He was pretty sure his boss just indirectly threatened to kill him there, and he really was not wanting to test his patience and see if he was right or wrong. He still had the dinner date to attend to with Yunho later, though something told him he won’t make it home on time.</p><p>He didn’t look up from his desk as Seonghwa walked past him into his office, his hands shaking as he typed the password into the computer.</p><p>Yunho was right. His boss <em>is</em> an asshole.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>whoop whoop! another update. I hope you like it! don’t be shy to comment or to leave kudos, I always appreciate feedback! and as always, this isn’t proofread at all, so please excuse any mistakes!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Disregarded Things</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>“Isn’t that illegal?” </em>Yunho’s voice sounded through the earphones that were plugged into Hongjoong’s phone. The earpieces were obvious in Hongjoong’s ears, or at least one of them was, as the secretary paid for his lunch in the cafeteria on the ground floor.</p><p>He shrugged, despite his friend not being able to see it, carrying his food over to a table in the employees-only section, “I’m not sure. I googled it and it said it definitely shouldn’t happen, but nobody was around to hear it and I don’t have prove. So, even if I were to go to the police or whatever, they can’t really do anything besides ask him a few questions. Not to mention, if I did tell someone, I’d probably get fired. Maybe he just got up on the wrong side of the bed.”</p><p><em>“Hm, maybe. He still just seems like a huge asshole to me. I mean, you sometimes threaten me too, but that’s because I woke you up a few hours after you fell asleep. He really had no reason to say something like that. All you did was finish his sentence for him!” </em>Yunho stopped talking, probably to swallow the food he just had in his mouth. The taller one of the duo sometimes lacked simple manners. <em>“Isn’t that what he wants you to do? Do his work for him and all that jazz?”</em></p><p>“What? No, that’s not.. well, sort of. That’s besides the point. If it happens again, I will just.. talk to San about it.”</p><p>
  <em>“San?”</em>
</p><p>“Mr. Choi, Yunho. The one I had the interview with.”</p><p><em>“Oh, right!”</em> A few seconds of silence. <em>“Is he hot?”</em></p><p>Thank the lords Hongjoong knew Yunho, knew he was about to say something else and decided to wait until his friend was done speaking before he began to eat, otherwise he would be choking right now. He sighed softly as he stuffed the first bite of food into his mouth, letting out a little hum at the taste. It was definitely better than anything he could cook, though that didn’t exactly mean a lot considering he kind of sucked at cooking.</p><p>”Yeah, he’s attractive. Maybe it’s a vampire thing, you know? To always look hot. I mean, have you ever seen an ugly vampire? I haven’t. San is hot, the lady that was at the reception was extremely pretty, Mr. Park is hot, my vampire coworkers are all beaut- Why are you laughing?”</p><p>Confusion took over his features as Yunho’s laughter rang through his ear, only getting louder at his question. What was so funny about what he had just said? It was a genuine question. All vampires he has met so far have been extremely attractive, including his boss... Oh.</p><p>Realization dawned upon him as he rolled his eyes, stuffing his mouth full with food, “Real funny, Yunho. Haha. I don’t like him, but I’m not blind. He’s hot.”</p><p><em>“And an asshole.”</em> Yunho said through giggles, probably wiping some tears away from his eyes, <em>“Is that your type? Hot assholes?”</em></p><p>“You know, maybe I’ll just let you pay for your own dinner.”</p><p>
  <em>“You can’t. You said it’s to pay me back. By the way, it’s still today, right? Or is Mr. I’m-so-grumpy gonna keep you in longer for your little stunt?”</em>
</p><p>Hongjoong sighed a little at the question. He honestly didn’t know. Maybe Seonghwa would give him more work and keep him in longer, or make him work from home. Or maybe he would just be incredibly intimidating for the rest of the day. He couldn’t give Yunho a certain answer, even if he wanted to. He didn’t know Mr. Park well enough yet to have at least somewhat of an idea, though he doubted that he’d be able to predict anything about his boss even if he did know him well. Mr. Park was simply a mystery.</p><p>“I don’t know, honestly. I’ll try to get out on time. Just text me when you’re home, and if I don’t answer within half an hour, then I’m not gonna make it. I promise I’ll make it up to you, though!”</p><p>
  <em>“Hyung, don’t worry about it. You have all the time in the world. If it were up to me, I would refuse all of this because I wanted to help you out. You never asked me to — I did it because I could. You really don’t have to pay me back, but it makes me happy that you still do. Shows me that you genuinely care.”</em>
</p><p>Hongjoong rolled his eyes at Yunho’s words, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face, especially at the honorific. Yeah, Hongjoong was a good year older than Yunho, but they silently agreed to drop formalities at some point because of how close they have gotten. There was no need for it when it was just the two of them, so Yunho only called him ‘hyung’ when they were around others or when he was really serious and sincere about something. “Of course I care. You’re my best friend, even if I wouldn’t mind for you to play in traffic sometimes.”</p><p>Some shuffling could be heard from Yunho’s side of the call, <em>“Awe</em>,<em> that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. Hey, I gotta get back to work. Don’t let Mr. Asshole boss you around too much. I love you, bye!”</em></p><p>“I won’t. Bye, have fun with the old ladies!” He got one last ‘fuck you’ before Yunho hung up, having to get back to work earlier than Hongjoong.</p><p>Despite the different work places and lengths of lunch breaks (Hongjoong’s was now a little longer than Yunho’s), their breaks somehow lined up anyway. Not perfectly, as Yunho was mostly finished with his break by the time Hongjoong had called him, but it was still enough to call each other and to catch up. And after this morning’s events, Hongjoong definitely needed someone to talk to. He could’ve told San, but he wasn’t sure how busy the other was with work, and he also didn’t want Mr. Park to know he had snitched to someone about what happened, so the only other option was Yunho, his best friend. Someone he could always talk to. He trusted that giant idiot with his life. Metaphorically, not literally. He would never actually trust Yunho with his life.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>The human was just gathering together several papers together, having gotten back to work soon after ending the call with Yunho, as the phone on his desk rang. He sat back down in his chair and reached over to answer the call, saying the usual line, “Thank you for calling Vempire, this is Secretary Kim speaking. How can I help you?”</p><p>He already reached over for one of the sticky notes and a pen, thinking this would perhaps be someone getting back to him because of one of the many orders he had to place yesterday, only to stop midair when he heard a familiar voice answer.</p><p>
  <em>“Good afternoon, Secretary Kim.”</em>
</p><p>He inhaled quietly, trying his best to not let out an annoyed sigh at the owner of the voice. He could already guess why the man was calling yet again, for the second day in a row. If he continued to call in every day, Hongjoong might have to put his job at risk and snap at this man.</p><p>But for now, he put on a fake smile and an obnoxious friendly voice, “Mr. Shin, it’s very nice to hear you. I must apologize, though, Mr. Park is just about to head into a meeting. Is there anything you want me to tell him or do you perhaps wish to call back later? Maybe in, hmm.. around two hours?”</p><p>The man on the other line laughed. Something about that laughter made Hongjoong shift in his seat, a feeling of uneasiness overcoming the human.</p><p>
  <em>“Ah, Seonghwa. Always busy that kid, hm? Please do deliver a little message from me to him, Mr. Kim.”</em>
</p><p>Hongjoong rolled his eyes, but reached over to grab the pen and sticky note regardless, letting out a little hum to let Mr. Shin know that he could talk.</p><p><em>“Tell him to quit his games and that I’m tired of waiting. I’m not going to play nice forever, so he should really get back to me soon. If he continues to avoid me, </em>something<em> might happen.”</em></p><p>As the vague threat reached Hongjoong’s ears, he stopped writing, simply staring ahead of him for a few seconds. Mr. Shin was still talking, but Hongjoong wasn’t paying attention. Did this man really just have the nerve to threaten Mr. Park? One of the most successful vampire CEOs the human could possible think of? There was no way this wasn’t a threat. Hongjoong definitely knew a threat when he heard one, and he heard two today. He can’t just let this slide.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Mr. Shin, but did I hear that correctly? Did you just threaten my boss on call with me? I’m going to have to ask you to not do that again, otherwise we will take legal action against you. Please refrain from calling Vempire or Mr. Park personally again unless absolutely necessary. Have a great day.” He didn’t even bother waiting for a reply from the other man before hanging up, placing the phone down with a little more force than necessary. The audacity this man held, calling in and threatening his boss like that. Insane.</p><p>Just as he slammed the phone down, the door to Mr. Park’s office opened and none other than the CEO himself stepped out of it, his eyes widening a little at Hongjoong’s actions, or perhaps the semi-angry look on the human’s face. He held a few files in his arm as well, aware of the meeting he did actually have to attend in a few thanks to Hongjoong having reminded him before his lunch break.</p><p>“I hope that was no one important, Secretary Kim.” Mr. Park said as he stepped closer, back to his non-threatening self.</p><p>The secretary in question shook his head, deciding to simply tell Mr. Park about the call. He didn’t seem too fond of Mr. Shin anyway, and Hongjoong was starting to feel the same way. “Mr. Shin called again. He said that you shouldn’t keep him waiting any longer, and that he won’t continue to play nice for much longer. He said if you do not stop avoiding him, <em>something</em> is going to happen. Since it sounded like some sort of threat to me, I simply told him to refrain from calling ever again unless it’s absolutely necessary. Mr. Park, I know it’s none of my business, but who is Mr. Shin and what does he want from you?”</p><p>The vampire’s expression changed slightly, and Hongjoong swore he could see a hint of a smile for a split second before his expression dropped back to a neutral one. Maybe he imagined it.</p><p>Or maybe he didn’t, because Mr. Park actually chuckled a few seconds later, clearly amused by something. This vampire was the most confusing vampire he had ever met (and he had met a few vampires).</p><p>“You did the right thing, Mr. Kim. Mr. Shin does not deserve polite treatment, in case you couldn’t tell yet. He is another successful CEO, one that wishes to not partner up with Vempire, oh no. He wants to buy Vempire. The only thing stopping him from it is me. I won’t allow to let scum like him to become the face of this establishment. You must know, he is not a good person. If he ever shows up in person, please let me know immediately and try to not engage with him. He’s up to no good.”</p><p>You know someone’s a bad person when an asshole says they’re a bad person. And that’s exactly why Hongjoong trusted the vampire’s words. He didn’t have time to ask further questions about Mr. Shin or anything related to him, because they had to hurry to a meeting, Hongjoong having to accompany his boss through it. Definitely not one of his favorite parts of the job as he had to interact with a lot of people, but he had to do it, especially if he didn’t want a repeat of this morning.</p><p>It felt weird, like he was in the first row to a concert he didn’t want to go to, but at the same time it was interesting. Almost fascinating, even, to see all this behind the scenes stuff going on. He knew a lot of work went into products and marketing schemes and just companies in general, but to experience it like this, it made him realize just how much work actually went into everything. And Mr. Park had to manage and approve most of this, keep an eye out for everything and make sure everything was in tip-top quality. He was definitely a great CEO, from what Hongjoong could tell. A great CEO under a lot of stress all the time, but that’s what he was here for now. He would help Mr. Park with all this work.</p><p>The meeting was about a new clothing line that wouldn’t follow the gender norms society has formed throughout the years. Clothes didn’t have gender, and Vempire wanted to show that. Sticking to the topic, the clothing line also wouldn’t be just advertised to vampires or humans but rather both. It would be contradictory to say clothes didn’t have gender, only to only appeal towards one species. Everyone in the conference room would be the one in charge of the production and marketing of this specific line.</p><p>Hongjoong loved the idea.</p><p>It might not be obvious, but the human does not care about gender norms either. If someone wishes to wear a skirt, then let them. The skirt doesn’t care, and neither should anyone else. If someone doesn’t like it, they can look away. He has worn a skirt before, and his closet has plenty articles that were originally in the women’s section of stores. He never cared. Clothes are clothes and if he looks great in them, he buys them. It’s as simple as that.</p><p>He sadly didn’t own a skirt yet. Or a corset. But one day.. one day soon.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Park, wait!” Hongjoong stopped his boss from walking off by calling out to him and quickly jogging up to him. It had been a few hours since the meeting, and the company was nearing closing hours. Mr. Park had just left his office to probably go talk to someone or get something, and Hongjoong just couldn’t keep still anymore.</p><p>“Is something wrong, Mr. Kim?” The taller male turned to look at the human, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>Hongjoong shook his head, handing him a piece of paper. He allowed himself to get distracted from his main work to sketch out a few ideas that wouldn’t leave his head ever since the meeting, “I know it isn’t really my field or business, but I’m quite into fashion. I reform clothes and such myself. During the meeting about the new clothing line, I got a few inspirations and I sketched them out. I hope you could maybe use them.”</p><p>He watched as Mr. Park opened the folded paper and scanned over it. He stayed silent and watched as Mr. Park kept his eyes on the paper longer than necessary. He watched as Mr. Park’s facial expression changed, a smirk appearing on the vampire’s face.</p><p>And then, the sound of something being ripped apart.</p><p>The sound of paper being ripped apart.</p><p><em>His sketches </em>being ripped apart by Mr. Park.</p><p>His mouth fell open as he watched his boss throw the pieces to the ground, disregarding his ideas in the worst way possible.</p><p>And as if that wasn’t enough, that fucker began to talk down on him as well.</p><p>“Mr. Kim, I’ll remind you of your position. You’re a secretary, not a designer. Leave that job to the professionals, to the ones with actual creativity. If I let anyone with half a brain design our clothes, Vempire wouldn’t be as successful and high quality as it is today. Even my baby cousin can draw better clothes than what you dare call clothing designs. Get back to work.”</p><p>Hongjoong stayed frozen as Mr. Park turned around and walked away. He knew he wasn’t a designer, and he wasn’t trying to be one, but was this necessary? He just wanted to suggest a few ideas, and Mr. Park does <em>this</em>? That entitled son of a bitch.</p><p>He blinked the tears out of his vision, leaning down to pick up the pieces of papers that were laying on the floor thanks to a certain someone.</p><p>He blinked the tears out of his vision for a second time as he dumped the pieces into the trash, thus dumping his ideas into the trash.</p><p>He blinked away the tears for a third time as he sat down at his desk and picked the pencil back up.</p><p>He didn’t bother to blink the tears away for a fourth time as he began to sketch again, letting them fall down his face quietly as he redrew his designs.</p><p>He was only here for two days, and yet he found himself thinking for the nth time; <em>was this job really worth it?</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sorry for the long wait! my soul went on vacation after seeing choi san’s concept photos. hope you guys can understand!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Emotional Distress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hongjoong left work without saying goodbye to anyone. Not that he had anyone to say goodbye to, besides maybe San, as his boss didn’t return even an hour later. He had simply stayed behind to finish his sketches and then he had left. He sent a text to Yunho a while ago to get himself ready and that he was now on his way to pick him up for dinner, the puppy-like human replying right away with one too many exclamation mark and emoji. Thankfully, he didn’t run into Mr. Park as he used the elevator to get to the ground floor, making his way outside.</p><p>It was dark already, but not too late in the evening for restaurants and the alike to be closed. For a second he thought about going home to change and freshen himself up, but he didn’t want to leave Yunho waiting longer than he already had.</p><p>Within the next fourth five minutes, he found himself at some semi-fancy restaurant with his best friend sitting across from him, looking through the menu that had been handed to them. In all honesty, after today’s events, he didn’t feel too hungry, so he settled with something rather light and easygoing. Of course, that didn’t escape Yunho’s hawk eye. The younger closed the menu, placing it down so he could lean forward on his elbows to get a good look at Hongjoong. The stare did make Hongjoong a little uncomfortable for two reasons. One; Yunho never said anything when he did this and Two; he knew what the taller was doing.</p><p>“You seem tired. Your eyes look puffy. What happened?” Of course he knew. They had been friends for years, so there was just no way he didn’t know.</p><p>He didn’t want to explain anything to Yunho, because not only was the other good at spotting when he wasn’t feeling so well, he was also good at noticing when Hongjoong was lying about something. Obviously, he’d attempt to lie. He didn’t want his friend to worry about him being unsafe in his work environment or anything, but Yunho would know. It was like his superpower, and as scary as it was, it was relieving sometimes. Hongjoong does no longer need to say anything to Yunho when he’s upset. He simply asks him to come over and the rests unfolds easily.</p><p>He also just wanted to leave those events behind. They happened, they were shit, but he could deal with them later. For now, he just wanted to relax, to have a nice meal with his best friend and to forget about work related things. But as they say, it’s better to get it over with sooner than later.</p><p>With that in mind, he let out a sigh that made him sound just as exhausted as he truly felt and began to speak, “Work was just.. shit today. You already know about the morning, but we went to a meeting together. A new clothing line — don’t tell anyone though. And you know me, I like reforming clothes and I like fashion. I got inspired, sketched a few things and showed them to him, hoping he’d at least consider them but he..”</p><p>As he trailed off, Yunho reached over the table to take one of Hongjoong’s hands in his in an attempt to comfort him, to let him silently know that it was okay if he stopped here now. The size difference between the two of them never failed to amaze him. It was another thing that perfectly balanced them out as friends.</p><p>“He ripped them apart, right in front of me, and called them shit basically. Said even a child can draw better, that I’m in no place to even think about designing anything. You’d think he could’ve told me nicely, but no, had to be an asshole. Seriously, fuck that guy.”</p><p>“Exactly!” Yunho nodded, a smile forming on his face and Hongjoong could already feel this sour mood of his starting to drift away, “Fuck that guy! I’ve been telling you. He isn’t worth jack shit. I don’t even know how his ass became a CEO with the way he treats people.”</p><p>“Humans.” Hongjoong corrected, chuckling a little at his friend’s language in such a place. Then again, they looked out of place either way, not exactly dressed up to be in such a location. Yunho was wearing sweatpants for God’s sake! “The way he treats humans. Sure, he’s kinda cold towards his vampire workers, but he is an absolute asshole towards humans.”</p><p>Yunho raised an eyebrow, his expression now one of confusion, “Is there a reason or did he just wake up one day and decide to hate all of humanity?”</p><p>“Honestly? I don’t know. Maybe there’s a reason. It’s not exactly my business, and I sure as hell don’t care enough to find out about it. Enough about assholes and men. This is supposed to be a thank you gift from me to you, so let’s focus on that.”</p><p>It felt good to hang out with Yunho after such a bad day. It felt even better knowing that for once in his life, he was the one taking care of Yunho. He was the one that would pay for this meal. He didn’t need to have Yunho pull him through life anymore. The job currently might be shit thanks to a certain someone that he does not want to think about right now, but it does pay well and that’s enough motivation to hopefully get him out of bed every day.</p><p>Dinner went on calmly, both sharing other details about their day or other things that popped into their mind. Yunho told him about the little girl that compared him to a puppy at the start of his shift, and how he had to bark because another child dropped their ice cream and was very sad about it. Yunho doesn’t like seeing children sad, so he tried his best to cheer them up by .. barking. Ah yes, this was his best friend.</p><p>Somewhere during the conversations, Hongjoong mentioned Mr. Shin, catching Yunho’s interest. He briefly explained the few interactions he had with this mysterious man, which were basically two calls, and what Mr. Park had told him about the man.</p><p>“That’s weird.” Yunho said, albeit with his mouth full. Hongjoong gave him <em>the stare </em>and he quickly swallowed before he continued talking. “I mean, you don’t just randomly bother the next big CEO you hear about. Seems like to me he either has a debt to pay, or Mr. Shin wants to buy that place up. I feel like I’ve heard that name before, though.. Shin.. Shin..”</p><p>It wouldn’t surprise Hongjoong if his friend <em>did</em> hear about Mr. Shin before. Even though Hongjoong was the one more into the fashion and beauty scene out of the two of them, Yunho kept up with a lot of gossip and news thanks to social media. He even knew who the Kardashians were and what they were up to, and those were American celebrities. Who keeps up to date with gossip about American celebrities when you’re barely even fluent in English? Yunho does. Now, Hongjoong isn’t saying he is not interested in the drama that family goes through, because it is very entertaining, but the things Yunho finds and knows are bizarre.</p><p>“Aha!” He returned to reality at the slightly too loud noise. “I know now. Shin’ing On. A beauty company. Focuses on skin care and the alike. Cute word play, right? Real serious business though, and nothing for low levels, if you know what I mean. I think they were on top of the game but recently, Vempire has been taking that spot. It’s no surprise, really. Vempire’s products are just as good, if not even better, and less expensive. Not too cheap either, but definitely more affordable than Shin’ing, and I mean.. who wouldn’t want to save a few bucks?”</p><p>Seemed like a good point. Anyone would want to save a few bucks, especially if the products were still high quality. Well, anyone besides rich people that could throw their money out into the streets and not care. But of course, most of them were too greedy for that.</p><p>And if Mr. Shin was truly trying to buy Vempire, that would explain why he was so persistent, and why Mr. Park seemed so done and annoyed with him. Nobody would want to sell their extremely successful business, Mr. Shin had to know this, right? He was a businessman as well, after all. So, why was he still trying so hard even after Mr. Park had said ‘no’ so many times? Was he just stupid or desperate? Hongjoong knew it wasn’t exactly his business, but he couldn’t help his curiosity. He worked there now, after all, and he would handle all the calls and a lot of other stuff, so he had an excuse to learn about it. Not that he would use that excuse, because he totally wasn’t nosy like that, but just in case he got a little too curious and asked someone about it.</p><p>“Anyway.” Yunho spoke up again, stuffing another portion of food into his mouth, “You won’t believe what I heard about Kanye West.. Apparently, he was hooking up with some beauty guru.”</p><p>All thoughts about Mr. Park and Mr. Shin left his head at those hot news. Kanye West? “Tell me more.”</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Yunho walked Hongjoong home after dinner. Despite his protests, his friend insisted because, “you’re so small and anyone could just kidnap you. I’m so tall and I can pick you up and run away faster.” If Yunho had his mind set on something, then he’d be very stubborn about doing it, so there was no use for much arguing.</p><p>It was comforting, in a way, to have Yunho next to him. He wasn’t scared, especially not about being kidnapped. Both of them were male, so they didn’t have to worry too much about being anyone’s target, especially since they were together. Unless a group of vampires decided to gang up on them, they would be fine. Not that something like that would actually happen, especially in a lively area like this. Someone would hear them scream and contact the police, or come help themself. It was too much of a risk for anyone to attack.</p><p>Besides that, there actually was a problem they had to deal with. Hongjoong had no idea where he was going. He was supposed to be leading the way, but he forgot which way his new apartment was located. He couldn’t exactly put it into Google Maps and let that guide the way either, because he didn’t even know his own address. He tried to play it off cool, simply walking into a neighborhood that looked fancy enough and stopping in front of a random house.</p><p>“Well, here we are! Thanks for walking me home. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you. You can go home now, though! Bye!” He went in for a quick hug, grinning up at Yunho as he pulled back and waved at him.</p><p>They both kept standing in the same place, staring at each other. Hongjoong’s smile slowly began to drop and he groaned when Yunho rose an eyebrow. “I’m fine, I promise you! You can go home now.”</p><p>“Why aren’t you going inside then?”</p><p>That caught him off guard. “What?”</p><p>“Well, you said you were home. Why are you not going inside?”</p><p>“I’m waiting for you to leave, of course! I don’t want anyone to sneak up on you.”</p><p>“Open the door.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I said, open the door. You got a key, right?”</p><p>Hongjoong let out another sigh as he turned around for one second before turning back to Yunho, seeing the taller already break out into a grin. “Fine. This isn’t my home. I don’t know where we are, I don’t know where I need to go to get home and.. I don’t know.”</p><p>Yunho snorted a little, reaching forward to grab Hongjoong’s hand and drag him along. “Let’s not just stand in front of stranger’s houses then. We’ll look like thieves. Let’s keep looking, maybe you’ll recognize the place somehow.”</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>They did not find the place. Hongjoong had to call San, who came to pick him from whatever neighborhood they landed in, while Yunho simply got an Uber and drove back home. He did feel bad about San having to come and get him, especially when the man showed up in pajamas, but San assured him that it was no problem and that it was partially his fault for never having mentioned Hongjoong’s address to him.</p><p>Finally he was home, San having invited himself into the apartment for some reason. Not that Hongjoong was creeped out or anything, but he did mind it a little as he was extremely tired and just wanted to get into bed and sleep. He was in no place to kick San out though, not after the vampire had just gotten up and out of his way to come pick Hongjoong up.</p><p>After a few moments of silence, San finally revealed why he had followed the human inside, “You left work without notice today.”</p><p>Hongjoong tensed up a little. Was he in trouble? He hoped not. He tried to play it cool, simply shrugging as a reply. That wasn’t enough for San.</p><p>“Why? I don’t know you too good yet, but it doesn’t seem like you. Seonghwa said you were gone by the time he returned to his office, without a note.”</p><p>He had to roll his eyes at the mention of Mr. Park’s name, which didn’t go unnoticed by San. They sat down at the couch, Hongjoong rather flopping onto it rather than sitting down. Again, he was exhausted. If it were up to him, he would rather not have this conversation right now. But it wasn’t exactly up to him.</p><p>San continued, “Something happened, didn’t it? Was it perhaps Mr. Shin? Seonghwa did mention him calling. Or.. did Seonghwa do something?”</p><p>The human didn’t answer, simply crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the wall, recalling the interaction he had with his boss earlier that day. The vampire was not going to give up that easily, though.</p><p>“Hongjoong.”</p><p>“Fine! Jesus Christ, you can be stubborn. Yes, something happened. He is an unwashed asshole, a giant piece of shit, a.. a.. fucking loser! I just wanted to kindly show my ideas, my sketches of outfits that I came up with, and you know what he did? Insulted me! For no damn reason! He could’ve rejected it kindly, but no, why should he? Instead, he ripped the paper apart and said a child can draw better. He’s a dumb waste of semen!”</p><p>He took a deep breath, a useless attempt to calm himself before he continued, “Who does he think he is, honestly? Talking about professionalism and what not, when he can’t even pretend to respect me. I don’t care what humans have done to him, I am trying to do my work and stay afloat. The least he can do is pretend to get along with me. I’ve been working for him for two days, San, two days! And I already fucking hate him. If it weren’t for the money, I’d do everything in my hands to be fired by him. Fuck him! <em>Fuck </em>him!”</p><p>Silence fell over the entire apartment as Hongjoong finished his rant, the only sounds heard being the soft hum of the fridge, the ticking of the clock and of course, his breathing. San didn’t seem like he was at a loss for words. It rather looked like he was giving Hongjoong a few seconds to process his emotions and to calm down. After a few more moments, he placed a gentle hand on the human’s shoulder.</p><p>“I’m sorry he treats you like this. I try to tell him to respect you, but he’s.. truly an asshole, sometimes. However, I promise you, it’s just an act. A wall, some could call it. The Seonghwa I know is nothing like the cold, emotionless asshole he represents himself as to you. He’s kind, caring, ready to support me at any opportunity, and extremely affectionate. I’ll talk to him about this, and hopefully- No, I’ll make sure he will start treating you like an equal.”</p><p>“You- Stop.” At this point, Hongjoong sounded as tired as he felt after today’s events. San, once again, didn’t seem like he minded. “Don’t apologize for him or because of him or- just don’t apologize. I want <em>him</em> to apologize. He’s the asshole, not you. I do appreciate your concern though.”</p><p>His coworker nodded, mumbling a little ‘sorry’ that made Hongjoong crack the faintest hint of a smile. Though, that smile quickly disappeared as San continued the conversation, “Did it hurt you a lot?”</p><p>What kind of question was that? Of course it hurt him a lot. Anyone would be hurt if they were told something as harsh as that. “Of course I was hurt. Who wouldn’t be? He told me my ideas were shit, San. Straight up bullshit! Not in those words, but you get the idea.”</p><p>“I understand that, but I mean.. when you get extremely hurt, like.. you.. get sad, right?” The vampire continued carefully, as if he was talking to a scared child. It clicked in Hongjoong’s mind.”</p><p>“You’re asking me if I cried?”</p><p>San nodded, “Yeah. I know how harsh Seonghwa’s words can be. I mean, I’ve seen and heard the results before. I just.. I wanna make sure you’re okay, and that you’re comfortable in your work environment.”</p><p>He hesitated a little, not exactly proud to admit that his boss’ words and actions did indeed make him cry, but this was San. He could trust San. He cared about him, and only wanted Hongjoong to be treated with respect. So, he told him the truth. He did cry.</p><p>San pressed his lips together with a little nod, looking a little too serious for Hongjoong’s liking. The expression then changed into a gentle, understanding one, a soft smile appearing on San’s face. He wordlessly got up, walking over to the front door. After wishing Hongjoong a good night, he left without another word, quietly closing the door behind him.</p><p>That was weird, for sure, but Hongjoong didn’t think much of it. He simply forced himself to get up, to actually change this time, and then simply dropped back into his bed like he had done the night before. It was no surprise that he was knocked out like a light within a few minutes yet again. Before he fell asleep, there was one final thought crossing his mind.</p><p>
  <em>He still never got to unpacking his stuff.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃<br/><br/></p><p>Two stories up, in the same apartment complex Hongjoong was currently peacefully sleeping in, a heavy conversation was happening between San and Seonghwa. He had called his close friend and boss after leaving Hongjoong’s apartment, this matter not being something he could just put off until the morning.</p><p>“Seonghwa, I totally understand why you don’t like humans, but this is.. it’s fucking ridiculous. What did he do to you?” San wasn't one to cuss at or around Seonghwa, as the other was actually quite a bit older than him, and he had respect for him. But his actions clearly hurt Hongjoong, and they were so immature and unnecessary that San just couldn’t help himself this time.</p><p>The line went silent, until a soft sigh could be heard, followed by a mumbled, <em>“Nothing.”</em></p><p>“Exactly, Seonghwa! Nothing! He is trying his best because <em>you</em> desperately needed a new secretary. Is it that hard to treat him with respect? Not only is it immature and incredibly ridiculous, it’s unprofessional. Considering how important professionalism is to you, it’s surprising how much you don’t care when it comes to <em>your</em> behavior.”</p><p>
  <em>“San, I-”</em>
</p><p>“No, absolutely not. I don’t want to hear any excuses. Stop abusing your position and power. If the media gets wind of this, you’re gone. This is.. my god, Seonghwa, he has been working for you for two days and you’re already borderline <em>bullying him</em>. You don’t see anything wrong with that?”</p><p>Perhaps, it could be argued about whether Seonghwa’s actions were actually bullying or not, but the word fit best for the situation at hand. Even if he wasn’t bullying his secretary right now, if he continued, it definitely would turn into straight up bullying. San was not going to stand around and allow that to happen.</p><p>When Seonghwa didn’t reply in a minute, San continued, although his voice was calmer and lower once more, “Just.. stop being an asshole, dude. You don’t have to like him, you don’t have to let him become your best buddy, just.. respect him. Your words <em>hurt</em>, Seonghwa. You made him cry on his second day when he was just excited to help.”</p><p>San could hear Seonghwa’s breath hitch on the other end of the line, <em>“I.. You’re right. My behavior is childish, unnecessary and extremely unprofessional. I shouldn’t have acted out like that. You.. you said he cried?”</em></p><p>He hummed as a reply.</p><p>
  <em>“God, that’s.. that’s horrible. Nobody has cried on their second day at Vempire before.”</em>
</p><p>“That’s because you haven’t been such an asshole to anyone up until now.”</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah.. I should apologize to him. It wasn’t right of me. I can at least try to treat him with respect. I’m not gonna like him, definitely not, because .. well, he’s human. But I shouldn’t abuse my power. I shouldn’t bully my employees.”</em>
</p><p>San huffed a laugh, “No shit, Seonghwa. That apology better be a good one. I’ll ask him about it, and if I hear any more shit about you, next time you won’t just get a scolding over a phone call. I’ll come over there and spank you with an.. umbrella or something.”</p><p>
  <em>“I would.. rather not have that mental image in my head right before I go to bed. Thank you for this, though. Having a close friend scold me like this definitely made me realize how much of an ass I truly am sometimes. I’ll change my behavior. Goodnight, San.”</em>
</p><p>”You better, or else! Goodnight, Seonghwa.”</p><p>The call ended and the line went dead. San locked his phone and laid down, waiting for the sleeping pill to kick in. He trusted Seonghwa, and he trusted that he’d stop being an idiot for once.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>Allow your heart to open a bit more. Not everyone is trying to harm you.</em> </strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>it’s been a hot minute, my apologies for that! I believe this chapter makes up for it, though? it is quite long so I’m a little proud of it. I wanted to get this out before my birthday (march 12th btw in case ur interested haha) and I’ll try to get the next chapter out soon! as always, not proofread, feedback is always appreciated and hope you enjoyed! bye!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Old Newcomers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hongjoong stared at his usually rather empty desk, considering he has not found the time or motivation to decorate anything yet, but that’s besides the point. The desk that he had gotten used to easily now had not just one, but two bouquets of flowers on it, as well as a teddy bear and a rather big lollipop.</p><p>He had come into work a little late, simply wanting to take his sweet, sweet time before he was forced to face Mr. Park yet again. He had expected a few things. Perhaps some worried texts from San, a few scolding and warning messages from Mr. Park himself and some more harsh words by the time he arrived. But instead, he had gotten .. whatever this was about.</p><p>He took off his glasses, which he has finally decided to wear for once, cleaned them, rubbed his eyes, and then put the glasses back on and.. nothing changed. He really was not dreaming.</p><p>Did he have a secret admirer already? Did someone happen to fall in love with him on his third day at work? Was he that attractive? No, no. Definitely not. There had to be a reason for all of this. Was this a prank? Maybe San was behind this. That had to be it. He heard about Hongjoong’s struggles, felt bad, and decided to sweeten up his day a little bit. Who else could be behind all of this? There was no other logical explanation.</p><p>One of the bouquets had a small card attached to it, which Hongjoong only noticed as he went to sit down and make some space so he could eventually start working when the confusing and slight shock subdued. He opened it, hoping for some indication on who could have done all of this.</p><p>
  <em><br/>“Please come see me once you find these.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>- Mr. Park.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Mr. Who? Mr. Park? His boss? The one that’s been an asshole to him all this time? That same Mr. Park is behind all of this? Maybe a different Mr. Park worked here, and that Mr. Park must have fallen in love with Hongjoong’s great fashion sense or is trying to get some blood out of him. That would definitely make more sense than his own boss doing this.</p><p>A little fake cough caused him to look up, his eyes widening as he saw who it was. Speak of the devil.. or rather think of the devil.</p><p>“I see you have found your.. gifts.”</p><p>He looked down at the gifts and then back up at the vampire, repeating that a few times before he finally kept his eyes on Mr. Park, blinking dumbfounded at him. He saw Mr. Park shift his weight from one foot to another and for the very first time since he knew of this man’s existence, he seemed nervous. Not once during interviews, meetings, or any other occasion did he ever see Mr. Park even just a little bit nervous.</p><p>“Don’t just.. stare at me like that, Mr. Kim. It makes things very awkward for me — more than it already is.” He spoke the last part a bit quieter than the rest, but Hongjoong still heard it.</p><p>Right, he should probably say something. Ask the questions that have been lingering at the tip of his tongue ever since he saw all of this.</p><p>“What’s this for? Are these goodbye presents? Am I getting fired?” Those were not the questions that he wanted to ask ever since he saw this, but figuring that asking if Mr. Park were in love with him could definitely land him in some kind of trouble, he decided to go with these ones instead.</p><p>The vampire straightened up in front of him, fixing the tie around his neck despite is not needing any fixing. Nervous habit, perhaps? “These are not goodbye presents, and no, you are not getting fired. I have come to realize that the way I have been treating you has been anything but professional or acceptable. These small gifts are part of my apology, as I figured just words or just gifts would not be enough.”</p><p>Before Hongjoong could even think of anything to say, he continued, “I went to pick out the flowers myself. I hope you are not allergic. Now, as for the important part. I apologize for the way I have been treating you, Mr. Kim. I shouldn’t have let my personal feelings about humans get in the way of our work. From today on, I will work on a professional level with you and I hope you can eventually allow yourself to forgive me. I will get you some vases for the flowers. Please wait here.”</p><p>And just like that, he hurried down the hall, leaving a stunned Hongjoong behind. Mr. Park really just apologized to him? Even went ahead and bought him flowers.. Perhaps Hongjoong was still asleep in his bed. He’d wake up soon, realize he was running way later than he wanted to be, and would get a heavy scolding when he arrived at Vempire. But after he had pinched himself, and quite hard at that, he realized he was very much awake. He definitely didn’t mind the apology, it was absolutely necessary, but how? Why? What? Who?</p><p>Who. Choi San. That little bastard.</p><p>Hongjoong had almost completely forgotten that he had told San everything about this. No wonder Mr. Park was apologizing to him now. San had probably scolded him as a friend and fellow vampire colleague about his behavior! The thought of that brought an amused smile to his face. San, who is at a lower rank work wise, scolding their ever so cold hearted CEO. How he wished he could’ve been a fly on the wall during that conversation.</p><p>He would go ask him about that later.</p><p>He dropped the smile from his face as Mr. Park returned with water filled vases, helping him split the bouquets in four instead of just two big ones and placing them in the vases. After placing the vases down nicely, his desk definitely looked much more alive and welcoming than before. Maybe he should always have some flowers around. Perhaps he should get some potted plants.</p><p>His attention drifted back to his boss as he noticed he still has not left, simply lingering around. Oh, right. He has yet to say an actual word to the vampire.</p><p>After he took a moment to gather his thoughts, he spoke up, “I’m not going to forgive you just because you got my flowers, a teddy and a .. lollipop. I do appreciate the gifts and your efforts though, but I have to see a change in behavior before I can forgive you. No need to worry about allergies either, I’m not allergic to anything on my table right now, at least to my knowledge.”</p><p>Mr. Park paid attention to his every word, nodding after he had finished speaking. “That’s understandable and completely alright. Like I said, I definitely will change my behavior. I have got to go back to work now, but I hope you enjoy your gifts, Mr. Kim.”</p><p>This time, Hongjoong knew he wasn’t hallucinating when his boss flashed him a small smile before disappearing behind his office doors. Honestly, he should smile more. It suits him.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Over the following week, Hongjoong did notice a very obvious change of behavior in his boss. He did not cross any line or acted too different suddenly, but the harsh words and glares stopped and he began to treat Hongjoong as a human. It was a little weird and awkward at first but those feelings settled down after the third day. He even had gotten Hongjoong a driver that would get him to and from work safely. That way the human no longer needed to ask San or walk home and get lost again, only to ask San to come pick him up.</p><p>His chauffeur, if he could call him that, went by the name Yeosang and was also human. He wouldn’t have minded if the other were a vampire, because he does not discriminate thank you very much, but Yeosang being human just made everything just a little bit easier. Though, Hongjoong at first had a lot of trouble believing that Yeosang was human. Not because he was extremely pale and looked like he didn’t get sleep ever, but rather because he was <em>that</em> gorgeous. Straight up stunning, like a masterpiece of a painting made by the best artist in the entire world. The two of them always talked during their car rides, and Yeosang told him just yesterday that Hongjoong could even ask him for rides outside of their usual ones. He had his number anyway, so contacting him wouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps, one could say they were getting closer. Not friendship close yet, but acquaintances close.</p><p>Of course, he also still kept in contact with Yunho, either texting him every second day or calling him if his schedule allowed it. He had also gotten around to finally unpack all of his things and truly get settled into his new home. He had done so while on FaceTime with Yunho, and the never ending teasing comments about how rich and luxurious he now lived still cracked him up.</p><p>Besides that, he had also gotten to the most important thing; paying his parents back. It definitely came as a surprise when his mother checked their bank account after Hongjoong had texted her to do so, and the call that happened afterwards was expected. He made up some lie about how he had been saving up, how business was doing very well and he was working on a lot of songs for clients — the guilt of lying to his parents yet again immediately settling deep within his chest, but he pushed himself to ignore it — and has finally decided to start paying them back bit by bit. His parents were of course overjoyed that his work was doing great, and thankful that he was paying them back, despite not needing to. He insisted. This was the least he could do.</p><p>He was aware that he was playing a dangerous game with these lies. It was only a matter of time until his parents found out, especially with the amount of journalism and reporters that surrounded Vempire a lot of the time. It was only a matter of time until someone managed to snap a picture of his face or grabbed him for an ‘interview’ and exposed him to the media. That day would be the that he’d pass away due to shame. Hopefully, it would take its sweet time to come along and allow Hongjoong to somehow mentally prepare himself for that (even though he definitely can’t mentally prepare himself for that at all).</p><p>But for now, he was fine. For now, he had other things to worry about. His boss’ behavior definitely wasn’t part of his worries anymore, though.</p><p>He just can’t exactly believe it. Turns out, San did indeed have a little chat with him, the vampire admitting so the same day Mr. Park had apologized to him. Hongjoong thanked him by getting him a nice warm bag of his favorite blood type. Despite having grown up with vampires all around, it was still weird to see San poke a straw through the bag and drink the red liquid like a Capri Sun.</p><p>Mr. Park was treating him fairly well, now. He knew that the CEO still didn’t put too much trust in him, and that was fine, because he could always work harder and show him what he was capable of. He was not expecting them to become friends or anything, God no, but they were now working on a professional basis with respect and that’s all what Hongjoong really wanted.</p><p>He had just returned to his desk after getting himself some nice coffee, handling everything else he does on a basis, but also accepting calls that would usually go straight to Mr. Park. Much like San had told him, he was also responsible for Mr. Park’s private schedule, and today the vampire had a dentist appointment, which Hongjoong sent him off to around 25 minutes ago.</p><p>He startled a little as the phone rang, putting his mug down and picking up, a quick glance at the display on the intercom telling him it was the reception from the ground floor.</p><p>“Hey, Yerim. How can I help you?” Yerim was the nice lady that he had met on his first day here. The two of them aren’t close, but they did go to first name basis because.. well, why not? They talked a lot anyway as Yerim informed him when stuff or people arrived.</p><p>
  <em>“Hongjoong, is Mr. Park back yet?”</em>
</p><p>He glanced at his phone, his notifications not showing a text from his boss telling him he was coming back. “Not yet, no. I’d say it’ll take another while until he returns. Why? He isn’t expecting anyone to come today.”</p><p>
  <em>“That might be so, but a certain Mr. Shin has decided to stop by and wishes to speak with Mr. Park. Should I send him up to wait for him or..?”</em>
</p><p>Mr. Shin? The same one that Hongjoong had told to basically fuck off a week ago? What in the world was he doing here, and why was he so damn bad at following simple instructions? Then again, this could be business related.. No, he has no business here. The only business he sees here is buying Vempire and Mr. Park definitely refuses to let that happen.</p><p>“Tell Mr. Shin that Mr. Park is out of house and won’t be returning for another while. He can feel free to wait in the cafeteria or wherever else he prefers, but I highly doubt Mr. Park would wish to speak with him.”</p><p>As he spoke to Yerim and listened to her inform Mr. Shin about what he had just said, he quickly shot his boss a warning text.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Hongjoong</strong>
</p><p>» I hope your appointment is going well, sir. Mr. Shin has decided to stop by and wishes to speak with you. I’ve told him to wait on the ground floor for you. «</p><p> </p><p>The status changed to <em>Read</em> almost immediately.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» I was just about to inform you that I’ll be on my way back now. Thank you for the heads up. «</p><p> </p><p><br/>It was the same way Mr. Park would always text him (not that he did a lot, mind you), and yet Hongjoong could feel the change in tone, could basically taste the annoyance. Well, if someone constantly tried to buy one of his songs and he had already said no many times, he would get just as irritated as well. But nobody wants to buy his songs. He doesn’t even have songs to sell at the moment.</p><p>He sighed as he placed the phone back down on the intercom after getting confirmation that Mr. Shin would be waiting downstairs, taking a slow sip from his coffee.</p><p>Something told him this was going to be a long day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>turns out I lied about how fast I would get the next chapter out but hey did you know turning 18 brings a lot of responsibilities you gotta handle? anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I’m not too happy with this one, but oh well</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. To Save and Be Saved</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mr. Park was anything but happy as he walked to his office, Mr. Shin right behind him. Hongjoong had shot his boss a look of sympathy, to which he had gotten a tight lipped smile in return before the two vampires disappeared behind closed doors. It was a little surprising that Mr. Park had even allowed Mr. Shin to come up with him. Perhaps he was going to declare his answer one final time. If Hongjoong were in his shoes, he would have just told him to fuck off the moment he laid eyes on him, and yes, in those exact words. Fuck off. Definitely very unprofessional and the press would have a field day with it, but sometimes it was the only way to get things across. But (thankfully) Mr. Park was not like Hongjoong. Mr. Park had patience that seemed to stretch on for miles when it came to people like Mr. Shin, and he handled situations professionally (most of the time, anyway). That were two of the many reasons why he was such a successful CEO.</p><p>He could hear them talking, but couldn’t make out what exactly they were talking about as their words came like quiet murmurs through to him thanks to, y’know, the walls and closed door. He gave up on eavesdropping and simply focused on the work he had to do.</p><p>San even stopped by a while later, having heard about Mr. Shin’s visit. The two CEOs were still talking by that time, having been in that office for around half an hour, more or less. When he asked if Hongjoong knew what they were discussing, the human could simply answer with a shrug of his shoulders, as clueless as anyone else. His favorite vampire colleague soon had to leave again.</p><p>He frowned at the door. It had been an hour and eight minutes since the two of them had began their conversation. Sometimes he could make out words as one of the two raised their voice at each other, before they went back to whatever they deemed as a calm conversation. How were they not tired of this yet? They have to be going in circles, or else this conversation would have ended long ago. Can’t Mr. Park just kick that old bastard out? Maybe he can’t, for whatever reason. Dignity, respect, his own pride. Whatever it was, it clearly kept this conversation going for way too long already.</p><p>Hongjoong had no choice but to save his dear boss.</p><p>Gathering up some random folders, he straightened out his shirt and went up to the office door, now actually able to make out some words. He could hear his boss sigh, clearly tired of Mr. Shin, before beginning to speak in that tone of voice his mother used to keep herself from scolding him sometimes, “Look, Mr. Shin. We have been over this plenty of times already. Nothing you say, offer or do will make me change my mind. For the very final time, my answer is no.”</p><p>Oh yeah. It was time to save this man.</p><p>He knocked, not even waiting for permission to enter as he opened the door a second after, poking his head in, “Mr. Park, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but you have a meeting with the marketing team in exactly ten minutes.”</p><p>That was a lie, there was no meeting to attend to today. But Mr. Shin didn’t know that. Perhaps the lying to his parents for years has paid off somehow, because he now felt pretty confident telling these little lies. At least this one was <em>actually</em> for a good reason.</p><p>Mr. Park’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and despite his facial expression not changing much besides that, Hongjoong could already tell the vampire was very thankful. He played right along, nodding as he got up and walked around the table, fixing his suit and tie as he did so.</p><p>“Right, right. I completely forgot. Mr. Shin, I’m so sorry, but I’ll have to cut our conversation off here. My final answer still stands the same. I hope you know the way out.” He held his hand out to the other vampire, who was now standing as well, but seemed to completely ignore Mr. Park as his eyes were on Hongjoong.</p><p>Oh god. <em>His eyes were on Hongjoong.</em></p><p>“And who’s this?” The human’s eyes widened a little as Mr. Shin simply side stepped Mr. Park and came closer, trying to stand high and tall as the vampire’s eyes roamed over his body. Ew. Disgusting. And if that wasn’t bad enough already, he had the nerve to smirk as his eyes met Hongjoong’s. Talk about being uncomfortable because right now, Hongjoong was very uncomfortable.</p><p>“This is my secretary, Mr. Kim. You’ve already talked to him before.” Thankfully, like a guardian angel sent from the heavens above, Mr. Park moved to stand in front of him, shielding his body from the view of the other vampire. Now, Hongjoong was a complete average height male, and while he was very much <em>average height, </em>there definitely were moments where he felt small. Right now, with Mr. Park basically hiding him behind his back, he felt like he was exactly 4’6. No taller, no smaller. Just 4’6. Or in other words, he felt extremely tiny and Mr. Park wasn’t even that much taller than him. Perhaps it was the aura the other had around him, especially at this exact moment. While he hates to use the word, there was no other way to describe it other than dominant and well, all authority-like.</p><p>“Ah, Mr. Kim. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person, finally. Though, it’s a shame that we already have to say goodbye to each other seconds after we met. But we don’t want dear Seonghwa to run late to his meetings, right? That would leave a horrible impression.”</p><p>There was something about that tone of voice that Hongjoong did not like at all. He felt mocked. And then there was the fact that the man was still <em>fucking smirking</em>. He did not wish to speak to him, but ignoring him would not only be bad for him, but also Mr. Park. However, before he could even begin to gather his thoughts and force himself to speak to this creep of a vampire, his boss beat him to it.</p><p>“Truly tragic. Now, like I said, I must go. Take your leave.”</p><p>They stayed around until Mr. Shin had left the office, Mr. Park locking it just in case. The three of them walked to the elevators in awkward silence, Mr. Park still acting as a barrier between Hongjoong and Mr. Shin. He had even wrapped his hand around Hongjoong’s waist to navigate him either more to his side or behind him, and the human chose to ignore the flutter he felt in his chest. It didn’t mean anything anyway. He had just never been protected by a vampire from another vampire before. He had never been protected like this before in any circumstance, actually. There truly was a first for everything.</p><p>He felt like he could finally breathe again when the elevator doors closed in front of Mr. Shin’s face, officially announcing his departure. He let out a big sigh, only to gasp and halfway choke as his boss was suddenly facing him, his other hand now on his shoulder. Are vampires supposed to feel warm?</p><p>“Are you okay?” Perhaps he did not notice, but Mr. Park was leaning a little closer than what Hongjoong would deem professional. His velvety voice was laced with.. worry. He was worried about him. Now, why did that make heat rush up to his face? This was no time to blush like he was talking to his high school crush for the first time ever.</p><p>“I- Yes? I think. I-I mean, it was.. weird and.. uncomfortable, but I think it would’ve been worse if you hadn’t.. shielded me..? I-I’m just saying, thanks to you, I felt, and feel, fine.” And he was stumbling over his words like an idiot as well now. This really was like he was talking to his high school crush for the first time.</p><p>None of this meant that he had a crush on Mr. Park though, mind you that. It had only been a week since his boss began to treat him with respect. And sure, while he was definitely extremely handsome, Hongjoong was not <em>that</em> desperate for love or <em>that</em> touch starved to immediately start developing a crush on the next person that treated him nicely. Okay, it might’ve happened with Yunho, but that’s because Yunho was.. well, he was just Yunho! Who wouldn’t want to date a man that basically screamed ‘boyfriend material’ every day? Hongjoong was just another one of his victims, not that his tall friend ever knew because Hongjoong never confessed because he was extremely scared that he would ruin their friendship and cried at the possibility of losing Yunho as a friend. And the feelings eventually left again, so all was good.</p><p>And this was not Yunho, this was Mr. Park. His boss. Even if he did have a crush on him, which he did not, he wouldn’t be able to act on it. They weren’t friends, they only interacted during work and for the love of all that is holy, he was his <em>boss</em>. He can’t start dating his boss! Not to mention, he wasn’t treating him extremely well or anything. He was treating him like he treated any other colleague — with respect and some kindness. Nothing special, nothing to think about, nothing to fall for. He had more of a chance falling for San, who was extremely touchy and affectionate even during work hours, than for his own boss. But he would not fall for his boss, because that would mean he would need to crush on him first, and quite certainly, he did not have a crush on anyone. No, thank you, sir!</p><p>Mr. Park smiled at him. Not just a little smile that he'd sometimes send his way as a way of greeting in the morning. An actual smile, showing a bit of teeth and all.</p><p>Yeah, remember that whole ‘I don’t have a crush on my boss’ thing Hongjoong was just on about? How bad would it be if he actually did have-</p><p>No! He did not have a crush on his boss. He just never really saw him smile, so of course this sight would warm his heart and make him feel a little fuzzy inside. He was just happy that Mr. Park was showing his ‘true colors’, as San had called it at one point, to him now. Slowly but surely, that is. Maybe they could be friends after all! That would be the most Hongjoong would ever want to be with him, because again, he does not have a crush on him so there was no need to go beyond coworkers or friends.</p><p>“I’m glad you feel fine. I’m really sorry that he made you uncomfortable. I don’t know what he thought he was doing when he looked at you like that. If you want, you can take a break now or maybe even go home. I don’t want you to stay here if you still feel unwell because of that whole incident.” Mr. Park dropped his hand from his shoulder, but his other hand stayed wrapped around the secretary’s wrist.</p><p>Hongjoong shook his head, “I’m alright, sir, I promise. He’s thankfully done now, so I can return to work just fine. Thank you, though. Oh, by the way?”</p><p>“Yes? Do you want me to get you anything? Is everything okay?”</p><p>Well, that’s unusual. He must still be concerned about how Hongjoong is feeling right now, despite having been reassured that everything is okay for now twice already. There is no reason to look deeper into his worry.</p><p>“I’m okay, sir. Your hand is just.. well..”</p><p>“Oh- Oh! I’m sorry.” Hongjoong regretted pointing it out to Mr. Park, immediately missing the oddly comforting warmth of the vampire’s hand around his wrist, and for a split second he could even feel himself pouting. He quickly pulled himself back together, flashing the vampire a quick smile to let him know it was completely okay.</p><p>They stood in silence for a few moments before Mr. Park spoke up again, “There isn’t actually a meeting, right?”</p><p>A chuckle left Hongjoong as he shook his head, “No, there isn’t. I just made that up to get you away from him.”</p><p>“Thank god. I don’t think I could stand to hear anyone else ramble on about things after I had to listen to him for forever.”</p><p>That was the first time the two of them shared a laugh. That was also the first time Hongjoong <em>really</em> second guessed his feelings.</p><p>Maybe he was that desperate to be loved. Maybe he was that touch starved. Maybe he just couldn’t resist Mr. Park’s true colors.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Hongjoong ended up going home early that day. It wasn’t like he wanted to and took Mr. Park up on his offer or anything, but rather the man being extremely stubborn and practically forcing his secretary to go home already despite work still needing to be done. Sure, it was not a lot, but Hongjoong would rather get something down now than wait for it and waste precious time. Though, he didn’t have a lot of room to argue when Mr. Park had already contacted Yeosang and the latter was waiting for Hongjoong in the parking lot. Smart play. He knew that Hongjoong wouldn’t be able to say no if Yeosang already made the effort to come and pick him up.</p><p>And that’s how he found himself in his apartment at just 4 PM, his work attire completely regarded and replaced with a hoodie that once belonged to Yunho and some comfortable sweatpants. Oh, and of course the best friend himself had come over, work for once not in their way.</p><p>“So, you mean to tell me.. he protected you from an even bigger asshole?” Yunho asked once Hongjoong finished telling today’s events, munching on some chips that he had brought over.</p><p>“Yeah, like I said, he stood in front of me and always made sure to act like a barrier between me and McCreepster. I’m not saying I don’t appreciate what he has done, because good lord, that was an uncomfortable experience, but it.. it’s weird, you know? I mean, just last week he hated my guts.”</p><p>Yunho tossed a chip towards Hongjoong, shrugging a little, “Maybe we misjudged him. He’s still an asshole, or was, but he has his morals set straight, somewhat. I mean, he might’ve threatened to potentially kill you, but after a good talk and some spanking-“</p><p>“Yunho.”</p><p>“Can a guy not joke? Anyway, maybe he realized he was only acting like this because he’s incredibly attracted to you, but you’re a human and he’s a being that will probably never die, so that’s scary, but when he saw someone else looking at you like that, he began to realize he needed to make a move before someone snatches you away!”</p><p>Hongjoong stared at his best friend silent, a look of disapproval and slight disappointment on his face. Once Yunho noticed the stare, a pout formed on the puppy-like human’s face.</p><p>“What? It could be true!”</p><p>“You need to stop with your Strangers to Lovers and Enemies to Lovers obsession. I don’t think it’s healthy anymore.”</p><p>“First off all,” He placed the bag of chips down so he could hold his hands up, “It is not an obsession. I just enjoy the idea of it a lot. Second off all, maybe I was going overboard, but you do not need to personally attack me like that. Anyway, how did that make you feel?”</p><p>“Well, I kind of wanted to punch you for a seco-“</p><p>“No, you idiot!” Hongjoong frowned when he got cut off, “Not whatever I said. I meant him protecting you. How was it to have a nice, strong, tall and handsome man protect you?”</p><p>Hongjoong had two options here. One included him telling the truth and spilling the thoughts he had had all day to Yunho and getting teased for it. The other option would be lying to Yunho, having him realize he had just laid, and getting teased for lying. Perhaps, he would rather have a hole suddenly open up in the ground, swallow him whole and then close again so that he was never seen again, but of course, that was not going to happen because physics do not work that way.</p><p>After a few seconds of careful consideration, he decided to go with the truth.</p><p>“Honestly? It was nice. I felt.. safe, for sure, and .. I don’t know. I didn’t mind it. He held my wrist and all, longer than needed, and I liked the warmth. It had me thinking if I have a crush on my boss, can you believe that?” He laughed a little. Saying it out loud sounded silly.</p><p>“Do you?”</p><p>His laughter immediately stopped, “Do I? Have a crush? On my boss? No! Of course not! What, do I seem that touch starved?”</p><p>“I mean..”</p><p>“Do not.”</p><p>“Hey, listen, listen.” Yunho leaned forward, placing a hand on Hongjoong’s shoulder, “Being touch starved isn’t a bad thing. And I’ve not heard about a relationship or any sort of crush from you since we met. For a second, I doubted you were even interested in anyone at all.”</p><p>“Well, I did have a crush at one point, I just never told you about it because I was scared of ruining our friendship. However, I am not desperately touch starved. Sure, it would be nice to have someone hold my hand once in a while or to cuddle up to someone, but I got you for that. I do not need a relationship for that, and I’m not actively looking. If the right person walks along, then I’ll take my chance. But Mr. Park is not the right person. He has just learned to tolerate me. He’s forcing himself to look past the fact that I am human and respecting me as a coworker, that is all. I’m just reading too much in between the lines because this behavior is new for me. So, no, I do not have a crush on my boss and I do not need you to be my hype-man or therapist.”</p><p>Yunho blinked, staying still for a few seconds, probably to process the essay of words Hongjoong had just thrown at him before he threw his hands up and leaned back against the couch, a little smile on his face as he reached out for the bag of chips again, returning to munching on them. “Surely felt the need to over-explain everything for the fact that you totally do not like your boss, but okay. I believe you.”</p><p>Hongjoong simply stuck his tongue out, rolling his eyes with no real bite behind his very childish actions as he got up to get himself some food from the kitchen. When he returned, Yunho was grinning up at him.</p><p>“What? Do I have something on my face?”</p><p>“So.. you had a crush on me, huh?”</p><p>Oh, how he hoped physics would suddenly change their ways of working and a hole would actually swallow him whole.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>new chapter, woooo!! i had a lot of trouble naming this chapter but i did it. as always, i hope you like it and feedback is always welcome! also, quick thanks to my friend, who actually proofreads this story and let’s me know about any typos! hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. How Odd</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Weeks passed yet again, and Hongjoong did not have another crisis about possibly having a crush on his boss. Whether that was because he simply pushed all those thoughts out of his head or he was extremely good at convincing himself that everything was as it should be is a question without an answer. </p><p>Something that he cannot simply push aside though was his boss’ behavior. It isn’t like he returned to his assshole-ish ways, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Ever since that incident with Mr. Shin, Mr. Park has been nicer than ever to him, and Hongjoong wasn’t sure what to think of it. He would even bring a coffee to his desk in the morning. Isn’t he supposed to do that as Mr. Park’s secretary? He also checks up on him more often, asks if anyone is troubling him at work in any way and let’s him know if anything does come up, he can inform him about it right away and Mr. Park will handle it. As if that wasn’t weird enough, whenever Hongjoong worked extra late, he would always demand that the human texts him when he arrives home. One time, Hongjoong had accidentally forgotten to do so and was met with a very serious scolding in form of a call.</p><p>It might sound like he was complaining or Mr. Park was causing him to feel uncomfortable, but that was not the case. He was just extremely confused as to what was happening and why it was happening, which is completely understandable. When he first started working here, Mr. Park didn’t even hesitate to threaten him during work hours, and now he wishes that Hongjoong contacts him after work hours just so he knows he got home safely? Then again, Hongjoong is supposed to also be Mr. Park’s personal assistant. Perhaps, he was just overthinking everything and it wasn’t as weird as he was making it out to be. In a healthy work based relationship, it was normal to worry about your employees and colleagues, right? Right. Mr. Park probably worries for others as well. He just hasn’t seen it because he’s often glued to his desk or walking around without Mr. Park by his side.</p><p>Or maybe Mr. Park was still making up for the time he had been an absolute ass. Because right now, Hongjoong was staring at a nicely wrapped gift box that sat on his desk, with a little bow on top of it to finish the look. Sure, he had yet to let the vampire know that he forgave him already, but was he really <em>this</em> desperate for forgiveness?</p><p>Hongjoong’s heart skipped a little beat at his next thought. <em>Maybe he is the one who has a crush on me?</em> But as quickly as his heart skipped that beat, as quickly did he force it to calm down again. There was no time to have silly thoughts like that. Mr. Park surely had his reasons. Before overthinking everything, it would probably be best to open the gift and see what’s inside. That is what he did.</p><p>A suit. An extremely nice suit, at that. The pants weren’t exactly too special, but they still felt fancy as Hongjoong ran his hand over the material before placing them aside for now. The next item of the suit was a cropped jacket, one that would stop right above his belly button from the looks of it. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the attachment was what had Hongjoong’s jaw drop to the floor.</p><p>Attached to the back of jacket was a beautiful black sheer cape that reached all the way to the floor. Part of it was also attached to the sleeves of the jacket. Even if he put it on, he was sure that the material would still drag across the floor at least a little bit. Others might not see the beauty of it, but this was the best piece of clothing Hongjoong owned from now on. It was absolutely gorgeous.</p><p>Setting that aside for now as well, he looked at the remaining things inside the box. A pair of black, matte heels. Oh. Alright. He hadn’t had too much experience with heels, but he did know how to walk in them. The heels weren’t too high either, thankfully, but he’d gain around 3 inches by wearing them. Besides that, a black choker and extremely expensive looking earrings. And for some reason, Hongjoong’s slow brain only now caught Vempire’s logo on everything. Now it made sense, why everything looked so god damn gorgeous and expensive. These were clothes made by the company he literally works for. His dream of owning at least some of the pieces they put out came true! However, he doesn’t recall ever having seen this sort of suit — should he even call it that? He wasn’t sure what else it would be classified as — in any magazine before.</p><p>He hadn’t even realized someone had walked up until they started to speak, “I do hope you know how to walk in heels. If I overstepped a boundary with the shoes, please do inform me. I can get you some simple ones instead.”</p><p>“Mr. Park.. I don’t understand. What is this for?” He looked up, recognizing the voice of his own boss with ease.</p><p>The vampire seemed a little flustered as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, clearing his throat, “I would like you to accompany me to lunch today. Not in this outfit! But I will explain the reason behind this during lunch. I will pay, of course.”</p><p>Still confused, but eager to get answers, Hongjoong agreed. Also, who would say no to a free (possibly fancy) lunch? Definitely not him.</p><p>“So.. I.. did not overstep a boundary..?” The man in front of him asked again, glancing down at the shoes, which now laid next to the gift box on the desk.</p><p>“Oh! No, absolutely not! I do not believe in gender roles, it’s alright. The heels are gorgeous! I know how to walk in them as well, don’t worry.” Hongjoong sent what he hoped came off as a reassuring smile towards his boss, but with the confusion still clouding his mind, he wouldn’t be surprised if he looked constipated.</p><p>All seemed well though, because Mr. Park returned the smile. “That’s great. I sure do hope you like the way it turned out. We did not have any sketch to go by, simply what I had memorized from the time you had shown me your drawing. This is not in the final lineup for the release line, as I do not wish to release your ideas to the world without your permission, but we do have a few .. ‘tests’ of them made.”</p><p>How did he not recognize his own design sooner? This outfit was one of the few designs he had drawn and shown to Mr. Park, which he had then ripped apart and called ugly, but clearly the designs couldn’t have been that bad if he decided to actually create them anyway! Without Hongjoong’s permission. Yet, the human couldn’t be mad because just this one outfit turned out better than he could’ve ever imagined. It looked so good, would look even better once he got to wear it, and felt amazing. This time, his smile was 100% genuine and his eyes shone with joy.</p><p>“You actually liked the designs? You made them? Like.. for real?”</p><p>Mr. Park cleared his throat again and looked anywhere but Hongjoong, “Not all. I only remembered two of them. However, if you have a copy of the paper, we can create the others as well. I know when I first saw them I.. well, you surely remember. They are not bad, not at all. In fact, you amazed me by coming up with such unique ideas. But I let my dislike for humans get the best of me.” As he continued to talk, embarrassment seemed to leave him because he soon made eye contact with Hongjoong again, looking as collected as ever.</p><p>“I’ll put them into the final lineup for the collection, if you allow me to. We still have enough time to add them. However, I would rather keep you as my secretary and assistant for a while longer, so please put your dream of becoming a designer on hold. I’ll gladly take your advice and listen to your ideas, though, for future collections and such alike.”</p><p>“Absolutely! Yes! I’ll get credit for it, right? Like.. people will know my name as a designer?” Hongjoong’s excitement caused Mr. Park to chuckle.</p><p>“Yes, your name will be announced as a designer during launch, runways and the alike. You’ll get the credit you rightfully deserve. Every designer that works for us gets their credit, don’t you worry. I am not a monster of capitalism that only wishes to keep things to myself.”</p><p>It seemed like the vampire had more to say, but his phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket, frowning a little. “Ah.. I have to go. Work calls. If I’m not in my office around lunchtime, simply meet me in the parking lot.”</p><p>Hongjoong nodded and Mr. Park headed down the hall, taking the phone call. He stared at the clothes for a few more minutes before neatly putting everything back into the box, reaching out for the phone and typing in three numbers.</p><p>“San, get your ass up here. I think your boss is sick.”</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know if he is your boss or trying to be your sugar daddy.” San, ever so curious about what his boss and friend has done now, pushed work aside and was at Hongjoong’s desk within the next fifteen minutes. He was currently leaning against it, watching Hongjoong type whatever into the computer.</p><p>“I do not need a sugar daddy with this pay. But seriously, what’s going on with him? Is he okay?” The secretary paused his typing to look at San, who only shrugged in response, causing him to sigh. “Not only that, he had been so.. different lately in general. I told you about it?”</p><p>The director nodded, “Yeah, you did. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t. We’ve been friends for a long time, and not once have I seen him act like this! Well, after the incident, that is.”</p><p>It seemed like San immediately realized he had said something he shouldn’t, because his eyes widened, but Hongjoong spoke before he could even think about it, curiosity taking over.</p><p>“What incident?”</p><p>“No incident at all. Do you want to know how Seonghwa and I met?”</p><p>Hongjoong got the memo. It wasn’t something for San to talk about or for him to know. He nodded, moving along with the subject change. He could see the vampire’s shoulder drop a little, clearly relieved that he managed to dodge a bullet right there.</p><p>They met before Seonghwa took over the company. His father had previously founded this, but eventually he couldn’t continue and Seonghwa had to take over. They only met 50 years ago (“Only?!” Hongjoong had interrupted him, to which San shrugged and replied with “Only.” before continuing with the story), San having just been turned around two years ago at that point. His family had tried to accept him as he was, and they did their best, but they weren’t sure how to deal with an immortal being. Noticing their awkward tension whenever he entered the room or drank a bag of blood in front of them, he had quickly moved out. He had only been 19 at the time, and by the time he met Seonghwa, he had just turned 21. Still naive, still confused and most importantly, still scared of everything. Vampires and humans are living together, sure, but that doesn’t mean everyone would like vampires. San had a hard time finding a job in his small hometown (Who would’ve known San came from the country side? Hongjoong wouldn’t have guessed!). He stumbled into Seonghwa at a park. Quite literally. He hadn’t been able to afford any blood in a while, was too scared to ask his family for help in case he made them feel uncomfortable again, and he would rather die than hurt a human. His vision wasn’t very clear, but he could tell Seonghwa was a vampire. They just sense each other like that, apparently. He didn’t remember, but apparently Seonghwa shouted for his mother and they took him back to the small hotel they stayed in, feeding him and letting him rest.</p><p>San explained his situation to them once he felt well enough, and without hesitation they offered to take him back to Seoul with them. Despite his family staying behind in Namhae, the name of his hometown, he didn’t feel bad about agreeing. His family didn’t seem sad either. Sadly, Namhae wasn’t fond of vampires, always having been a small community of humans. It wasn’t like San asked to be a half-blood, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Funny thing was that everyone adored San before he got turned. He was known as the friendly and handsome neighborhood kid, often helping the elderly with their chores and errands, but the moment everyone found out he had been turned by a wandering vampire, they forgot about the sweet boy San and only saw him as vampire San. It also put a lot of pressure and harm on his family’s reputation. His father almost got fired from his job because of it. The town was happy to find out he had moved away, and he was happy too. Seoul had more accepting people and he didn’t run into trouble like he had before. He moved in with Seonghwa’s family for the time being, got a job and went to college. He moved into the dorm once he enrolled, and by the time he had finished, Seonghwa had taken over the company and San immediately got a job at Vempire after graduating.</p><p>San didn't seem sad when talking about his situation back at home, and when Hongjoong asked him why he didn’t seem upset, he said there was no use to dwell on such a harmless past. He didn’t care if they disliked him, as half of them were dead by now.</p><p>“That includes my parents. My sister is well in her 70s by now as well.” Hongjoong’s mouth fell open a little, not sure how to react as San had just announced his parent’s death like he was talking about the weather. Like it was something that just happened casually and didn’t bother him at all. Noticing the stare, the said man bursted out laughing.</p><p>“Don’t laugh at me! What? I- How can you say that so-?” He didn’t get to finish his question.</p><p>“Please, it’s been twenty years since they passed away, Hongjoong. I’ve learned how to deal with it. Death is inevitable for you guys. It was supposed to be for me too, but oh well. I’ve long accepted the fact that my loved ones will move onto their next life while I stay behind.” San sighed softly, shaking his head with a soft smile on his face. Rather than being sad about a death that has happened, he treasures the memories that he has made during their time together. There was no need to mourn, not anymore.</p><p>He pushed himself off the table with a clap, startling Hongjoong, “Enough chitchat. Time to get back to work. Have fun with your lunch date!”</p><p>“It is not a date!”</p><p>“Oh? What is it then? A lunch quickie?”</p><p> Hongjoong tried to throw a water bottle after San. Hongjoong’s aim is horrible and he hit the wall instead. He sulked in his chair as San’s laughter echoed down the hall before he finally shut up as the elevator doors closed on him.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>It was not a super fancy lunch, but it was still a nice place. Seonghwa-, No, Mr. Park had taken him to a very nice sushi place just a few streets down. He wasn’t sure why they didn’t eat in the company’s cafeteria, but he was not going to complain because this sushi tasted amazing. It tasted like what he imagined ascending to heaven would feel like, not that he believed in heaven or hell, even if it did sometimes feel like Satan had it out for him.</p><p>Mr. Park was sitting across from him, eating the same dish as Hongjoong. Who knew vampires could eat human food? Hongjoong didn't, until he watched Mr. Park pop a weird yellow pill into his mouth before they drove here. They obviously do not need to eat food to survive, but a lot of vampires want to eat anyway, which is why a pill has been invented that will keep them from feeling sick and throwing the food up five seconds after eating it. Mr. Park explained that it needed a while to start its magic, so it’s best to take it at least half an hour before ingesting food.</p><p>As good as the sushi was, and as nice the small talk they were making was, there was a specific reason why they were here and Hongjoong really wanted at least one of his many questions answered. So, when their small talk died down and silence took over, he took the opportunity to nail the hammer on the head.. or something like that. He wasn’t too good with weird sayings like that.</p><p>“So..” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, “The outfit?”</p><p>His boss was about to eat another piece of sushi, but set the chopsticks down at Hongjoong’s two-word question. “Right, the outfit. My apologies, it had completely slipped my mind.”</p><p>Hongjoong wanted to ask why, or how it could slip his mind, but that would only distract them from the topic again. “That’s alright. But I would like an explanation.”</p><p>Mr. Park nodded, and he fixed his posture, suddenly seeming a little more serious compared to.. two seconds ago. “There is a charity event that I have been invited to. Or rather, Vempire has been invited to. I always attend it, because it’s quite a huge deal and whoever doesn’t attend.. well, the media will know. Usually, I would have San accompany me, but he will be busy, and seeing that you are my personal assistant..”</p><p>He knew where this was going, but he still decided to ask, just to make sure, “So? What does that have to do with the outfit?”</p><p>“The outfit is for the event. I wish for you to wear it as you accompany me this Friday.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>a new chapter yay !! sorry for the long wait, I was kinda stuck on where to go from the last chapter, but here we are! thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed and feedback is always appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Event</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You want me to accompany you to the event?” He received a nod as an answer to his question. “Why?”</p><p>“Because you are also my personal assistant, if I must remind you. This is part of your job. I’ll let you off the hook if you are busy or happen to fall sick. Other than that, I’m afraid but I’ll gently force you to come with me.” Mr. Park said. Even though he used the word ‘force’, there was no bite behind his words (haha, get it? Cause he is a vampire and vampires bite).</p><p>But even without the cold, ruthless tone, Hongjoong did not get much of a choice. He could always pretend to be sick, but would it be worth it? Probably not.</p><p>A part of him, which he decided to completely ignore, was looking forward to spending time with Mr. Park, especially in that smoking hot outfit he had tailored for the party. But then the bigger, introverted part of him was freaking out. He did not enjoy being around a lot of people for a long time, and he guessed that he couldn’t just leave after an hour (which is how long it took for his social battery to run out). He would probably need to sit alone in his apartment for a week afterwards to truly recharge. Being introverted was truly a problem sometimes, especially when people thought you were a loser that couldn’t make friends. He could make friends. Everyone would want a piece of him! He just didn’t want to make friends.</p><p>Yunho was a different story, though. Yunho was an extrovert. He was the only reason Hongjoong really left his home, besides for work. He would drag the smaller along to basically anything, or just invite himself over. If it weren’t for Yunho being so persistent and such an enormous sweetheart, Hongjoong probably would’ve forgotten to text him back long ago and their friendship would have long died.</p><p>What would he do in this situation? Probably stare Hongjoong down and tell him that he should at least try, but to not force himself if he really doesn’t want to go.</p><p>With Yunho’s oh so wise words in mind, Hongjoong agreed. “Alright, sure, I guess. I mean, I have no real choice here. There better be food.”</p><p>Mr. Park chuckled softly. Hongjoong ignored the warmth in his chest at the sound of it. “Of course there will be food. Humans will attend too. Though.. I must warn you. Mr. Shin might appear as well.”</p><p>Hongjoong’s distaste was clearly showing on his face, because Mr. Park sent him a sympathetic smile, along with reassuring words, “I won’t let him bother you, or me, though. I promise.”</p><p>With that promise in mind, Hongjoong shoved all his worry away. He could think about everything when Friday actually came. For now, he still had food left on his plate that he needed to think about, and take care of. The two resumed to eating in silence, the human definitely feeling calmer now that he had answers to his questions.</p><p>“By the way,” Mr. Park spoke up, “Have you finished the report about coffee?”</p><p>Hongjoong blinked slowly, “What?”</p><p>”The report. I told you to write a report about coffee? Vempire might open their first café business, and I need thorough research about the different types of coffee and such.”</p><p>“You never told me to write a report about coffee.”</p><p>“Yes, I did. Yesterday?”</p><p>“Sir, you did not.”</p><p>“I think I did.”</p><p>“I think you did not.”</p><p>“You’re telling me I forgot?”</p><p>“I am telling you exactly that. Sir.. could it be? Is old age getting to you? Should I rather make a report about retirement homes? I shall inform San about this.”</p><p>“Secretary Kim!”</p><p>Hongjoong’s lunch not-date-date went pretty well.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Friday came sooner than he would have thought. Not like he was counting down the days or anything. In his old life, you know, with his old two jobs, the days always seemed to drag on for forever and ever. Now, they seemed to run by like days should. An hour felt like an hour, and a day felt like a day. Unless he had a lot of work to do.</p><p>He told Yunho about everything the moment he got home the day he had lunch with Mr. Park. Of course, his best friend was super excited for him. He had rushed over the moment he could to take a look at the outfit and to tease Hongjoong a little bit about the not-date-date he had. Yunho wanted him to put the outfit on, to see what it’ll look like, but Hongjoong wanted to wait until the occasion that he was supposed to wear it to came along. It was pretty hard resisting those puppy eyes. He swore Yunho either had some sort of spell on him, or was a dog in his previous life. He stood his ground, though, not putting the outfit on until today.</p><p>Mr. Park had given him the entire day off, or, most of the day since he still had to work. The event started at around 5 PM, but they would only show up around 7 PM. Fashionably late, or something along those lines. It would also be when most people that were a big deal showed up, and Hongjoong was once again reminded that Mr. Park was in fact a big deal.</p><p>He didn’t need to worry about the calls or work he would miss, as he had been informed that Yerim (the receptionist, remember?) would take care of everything. He felt bad about giving her more work than usual, but apparently she was completely fine with it. Which.. made sense. She was getting paid more for that day. Money can fix a lot of things.</p><p>The day off was definitely needed. He had enough time to get ready, and to relax as well. But most importantly, he had enough time to prepare himself for the confrontation he surely had to face after this event. Media would be there, many paparazzi and journalists, which meant that his face would be in magazines, reports, and what not. And that meant his parents would definitely find out about him, and discover that he has lied to them all this time. Guilt washed over him like a huge wave, threatening to crash down upon him at any second now. He had no time for that, escaping the wave once again by distracting himself. He was sure his parents would understand, at least after they were done yelling at him or being disappointed in him.</p><p>Wearing makeup wasn’t exactly something he did often, but he did have a few eyeshadow palettes and the alike lying around for special occasions, which this event definitely was. The last time he put on makeup to look presentable was probably when he hung out with Yunho as they were still in the early stages of their friendship. Or the time he had a crush on the tall guy, but that isn’t exactly something he really thinks about.. most of the time, anyway.</p><p>He did his makeup before putting on the outfit, not wanting to get any powder or BB Cream onto the material. It was a good idea, because he did accidentally drop his lipstick onto his lap. The makeup wasn’t anything too big, just some brown eyeshadow in the crease, shimmer on the lid and a bit of black eyeshadow for eyeliner. Some lip tint with lipgloss on top and he was ready to go. As he inspected himself in the mirror, he questioned why he didn’t wear makeup more often. He looked great (and because of that, he took around 20 selfies).</p><p>Nothing could top the way he looked when he finally put the outfit on, though. He looked like he came straight of a cliche vampire movie, except he wasn’t a vampire. Or, to keep it short and simple, he looked drop dead gorgeous, and felt hotter than hell itself. The heels did give him a bit of height, but nothing too much. Maybe he ended up taking another bunch of selfies, especially mirror selfies. The mirror in his bedroom was rather big, so he’d use it, of course.</p><p>He might post them on Instagram, which he barely uses, later, but for now he sent it to Yunho, who sent a whole dramatic paragraph, and to San, who freaked out and sent twenty emojis. Get yourself hype-men like those two.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Choi San</strong>
</p><p>» If nobody hits on you during the party, then I’m convinced everyone there is blind. «</p><p>» Actually, of Seonghwa himself doesn’t attempt to flirt with you I’ll be surprised. That kinda fashion is right up his alley. «</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Hongjoong</strong>
</p><p>» I’d hope he wouldn’t hit on me, lmao. He is literally my boss? «</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Choi San</strong>
</p><p>» That never stopped anyone. You never seen a movie with the same plot? Read a fanfic? Cold asshole falls for his loser coworker.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Hongjoong</strong>
</p><p>» I’m? Sorry? Did you just call me a loser? «</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Choi San</strong>
</p><p>» Damn, look at the time. Gotta go. Have fun at the party! Use protection! «</p><p> </p><p>Hongjoong snorted a little at San’s text, shaking his head as he connected his phone to the charger. He wouldn't leave the house if his battery percentage was anything below 60%. What if an emergency happened, but his phone decided to drop dead and he can’t call for help? Or, what if he could call for help, but his phone dies mid-call? It wasn’t like he was being overdramatic, he just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t end up useless during an emergency.</p><p>His boss, the Mr. Park, flirting with him? He couldn’t help but laugh again at the thought, moving over to style his hair. That was ridiculous. Mr. Park isn’t very fond of humans, and it took a whole scolding for him to even think about treating Hongjoong with basic respect. That man was far, far from dating or even thinking about flirting with a human. Sure, he was hot, extremely hot if he dared to say so (and he dared!), but that wasn’t enough to pull Mr. Park and make him fall to his knees.</p><p>He wouldn’t mind if it was enough, though.</p><p>His phone let him know that he received a text around 6.15 PM. He had just finished eating a salad, since he didn’t want to eat anything too heavy but also didn’t want to end up hungry again an hour later, and was reapplying his lipgloss when it let out a ‘ping!’.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» Hongjoong-ssi, we are here. Please come outside. «</p><p> </p><p>It was time to go. He quickly grabbed everything he’d need, alongside a coat just in case it got a little cold, and was out the door. He didn’t rush down, not wanting to mess up his hair or outfit. The coat was draped over his shoulder for now.</p><p>He saw Mr. Park the moment he stepped outside, the vampire having gotten out of the black van to wait for him. There was something that made him stop in his tracks, and it wasn’t how handsome Mr. Park looked. It was the fact that their outfits were basically matching. Mr. Park’s cape wasn’t sheer, or as long as his own, and he also was not wearing a crop top or anything, but it definitely seemed like the two of them were wearing matching outfits. For some reason, Hongjoong didn’t believe that this was a coincidence.</p><p>The second person he noticed was none other than Yeosang, who was leaning against the car, also waiting for Hongjoong. He stood up straight the moment he saw the secretary, his eyes wide. A blush rose to Hongjoong’s face as Yeosang whistled, shamelessly checking him out. “Well, god damn, you look like a three course meal! We gotta be careful that you do not get eaten tonight, because even I’m having trouble controlling myself.”</p><p>“Oh, shut up, you’re doing too much.” Hongjoong laughed softly, trying to keep his cool. He did panic sometimes when a very attractive person complimented him, and Yeosang was in fact, a very attractive person.</p><p>“No, he’s right. You look gorgeous, Secretary Kim.. or perhaps, today it’s Assistant Kim. The outfit suits you better than I first thought it would.” Mr. Park had a gentle smile on his face as he spoke, and if Hongjoong could function correctly, he definitely would have noticed that his boss also shamelessly checked him out. But alas, the compliments were making him malfunction and he couldn’t even form a reply, besides for a weak little ‘thanks’ that came out as more of a question than anything else.</p><p>“Of course. Now, shall we?” Mr. Park stepped aside as Yeosang opened the car door, letting Hongjoong pass and get into the car. He was expecting Mr. Park to sit in the front, but of course not. His boss sat in the back with him. He should have seen that coming, it happens in every love story.</p><p>Surprisingly, it wasn’t very awkward. It definitely wasn’t as comfortable as riding with Yeosang alone, or as chatting with Yunho, but Mr. Park tried his best to make a pleasant conversation and stay within boundaries, successfully distracting Hongjoong from any nerves that he might be feeling at the moment. Though, no conversation could distract him the moment they pulled up to the place where the event was being held. Mr. Park didn’t lie when he said media will definitely be sticking their nose into this. There were so many cameras, microphones and flashing lights, Hongjoong could already feel himself getting dizzy.</p><p>A red carpet.</p><p>He was going to walk on that? Right next to Mr. Park? He was a mere assistant, a secretary. Nobody told him he would be walking on a red carpet today, but he should have known. This charity event did seem pretty big if even certain celebrities showed up.</p><p>Sensing Hongjoong’s rising nervousness, Mr. Park leaned over and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. It surprised him, how well his boss was able to know just when exactly Hongjoong felt uncomfortable or nervous. Perhaps he could smell it? That would definitely make sense, because they didn’t know each other well enough for him to just <em>know</em>. His scent probably changed whenever he got anxious or so. “Don’t worry, we’ll be inside before you know it. Or.. I could ask Yeosang to drive you around the back, if you’d like?”</p><p>That was comforting, but the thought of having to enter that place all alone was probably scarier than the amount of paparazzi he would have to face within the next few seconds. That also meant he didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision, so he needed to think fast. If he had more time to weigh his options, maybe he would have gone for the back door, but he went for the red carpet instead. Voicing his decision with a slight tremble in his voice got him an encouraging squeeze to the shoulder, and he was pretty sure he saw Yeosang glance at him with a small smile for a second before focusing on parking. At least they had a few seconds to calm down before walking up to the red carpet.</p><p>It wasn’t like Hongjoong felt out of place the moment he stepped out of the car. Sure, a little weird, but nothing too bad. His nerves were still high up in the sky, so Mr. Park placed a hand on his back, reminding him that he wasn’t alone.</p><p>The flashing lights were horrible, and Mr. Park needed to wrap his arm around Hongjoong’s waist because he got that disoriented. Questions were shouted, or people were telling them to look one way, Hongjoong couldn’t distinguish where anything was coming from. He should have chosen the back door.</p><p>The warm around the waist definitely gave many people the wrong idea, and he was sure several articles would be written about it, but it did help him calm down a bit and find his way inside. He needed a few seconds, blinking several times until his vision returned to normal.</p><p>Mr. Park didn’t leave his side.</p><p>“Jesus Christ..” He mumbled, “That was horrible.”</p><p>Mr. Park laughed a little, nodding, “Yeah. I guess you kind of get used to it after a while. Are you feeling okay?”</p><p>With a nod, the two of them continued into the building, Mr. Park’s arm dropping from his waist. It did make Hongjoong feel a little sad, but he didn’t dwell on it for too long. It had no meaning, after all, and was just there for guidance and comfort, which was no longer needed to that extent.</p><p>“A lot of people might approach us. Let me do the talking, okay? Don’t step out of your comfort zone.”</p><p>The event was already going on, so many people standing around several rooms. There even was an upstairs, and from what Hongjoong could tell, that was busy too. This place was booming with people. It felt like prom, but ten, no, a hundred times worse.</p><p>He looked around the room, recognizing a few faces, and taking note of anyone that seemed important. His eyes fell on a few people, a frown forming on his face as he came to a stop. Mr. Park did the same, turning to face Hongjoong.</p><p>“Wha-“</p><p>“Why are those guys dressed so.. well.. normally?” He asked, ignoring the question Mr. Park was about to speak. The vampire turned to look where his secretary was looking.</p><p>“Because those are their personal assistants, Hongjoong-ssi. They aren’t supposed to dress up. They are here to handle any business their bosses make.”</p><p>That only made Hongjoong frown even more, Mr. Park turning to face him again. “I’m your personal assistant and I’m all dressed up.” As soon as those words left his mouth, it clicked. He wasn’t here as Mr. Park’s personal assistant.</p><p>
  <em>He was here as Seonghwa’s plus-one.</em>
</p><p>Judging by the way Mr. Park got flustered and began to stumble over his words, seemingly caught red handed, he was sure that his suspicions were correct.</p><p>He couldn’t believe it. Whether that was good or bad.. he didn’t know. He would figure that out later.</p><p>After a minute, Mr. Park finally gathered his thoughts and began to speak, “Hongjoong-ssi, please don’t misunderstand. Usually San would accompany me, as you know, but he is busy. My first thought was you, since you are my personal assistant and you will still handle business and the alike with me, but I also figured you’d enjoy this. Especially since you’re wearing something you designed. Okay, maybe it was an excuse to get you to wear it, and I just thought.. it could be fun?”</p><p>“You could’ve just asked me to come as your plus-one.”</p><p>“You are not just my plus-one. You’re my plus-one and personal assistant.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh? Is that chocolate covered strawberries? Yummy~“</p><p>And as he made his way over to the delicious treat, the conversation and topic was over. Mr. Park was frozen for a few seconds, unsure of what to do as Hongjoong ended the conversation just like that, but he quickly hurried after his assistant, not wanting to lose the small man in the crowd.</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>The event wasn’t that bad, honestly. People approached Mr. Park, talked with him for a few seconds, maybe exchanged a few words with Hongjoong even, and then moved on. The food was great, the music was nice, he didn’t see anyone weird yet and the alcohol was fancy but free. He might have had one too many drinks, because he was already starting to feel warm and fuzzy. Then again, he was sort of a lightweight, so it didn’t take many drinks for him to feel warm and fuzzy. He was here for work, but he was also here to enjoy himself, and so far, Mr. Park hadn’t complained at all.</p><p>He wasn't really paying much attention to anything until Mr. Park basically dragged him along, heading towards someone across the room. He wasn’t being tugged along roughly or anything, but a warning would’ve been nice either way because he was borderline tipsy and wearing heels, thank you very much.</p><p>However, he couldn’t exactly complain when he saw who they rushed to meet.</p><p>“Jongho!” Mr. Park greeted the gorgeous and God-like man, who returned the greeting with an adorable gummy smile.</p><p>Is this what love at first sight felt like?</p><p>“Seonghwa-hyung! I was wondering when we’d see each other. How are you?” The man, Jongho, pulled Mr. Park into a hug as Hongjoong awkwardly stood by and watched.</p><p>“Who’s this?” Another kinda scary looking dude asked, referring to Hongjoong. He had introduced himself so many times this evening, he was basically a broken record when it came to that.</p><p>He bowed a little, “I’m Kim Hongjoong, Mr. Park’s personal assistant and secretary. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”</p><p>Jongho reached a hand out, which Hongjoong took and shook. Has his hand always been this tiny or is Jongho’s hand just extremely muscular? “The name’s Choi Jongho, I’m a model. I’ve worked with Vempire quite a few times already.”</p><p>That’s true. Now that he knows that piece of information, Hongjoong recalls seeing Jongho’s face here and there. He isn’t what society would claim as “the perfect model”, but that never stopped his success in any way. Rumors had it that he could sing very well, and hit notes up to a B5. Not that Hongjoong kept up with gossip, he just happened to hear it about this incredibly stunning model.</p><p>Oh, and Jongho was a vampire as well. But that’s truly all Hongjoong knew.</p><p>“You have nice hands.” Whether it was him being nervous, or the alcohol speaking, but that did not need to leave his mouth. Mr. Park shot him an amused look, and Jongho couldn’t hold back a smile either.</p><p>“Why, thank you. You have a nice face. And, if I’m allowed to say so, quite a stunning body as well. Are those heels? You can walk in those? That’s so cool!”</p><p>This was the third guy, that Hongjoong was aware of, that checked him out. The human felt like he might faint. Thankfully, the blush on his face could easily be blamed on the alcohol. The lord was really testing him today, despite knowing that Hongjoong was not his strongest soldier.</p><p>“Yeah, they are. I’m not too good, but I try. I’ve only stumbled like seven times tonight.”</p><p>They got lost in their own conversation pretty quickly, leaving Mr. Park standing off to the side. Some flirtatious remarks here and there, no big deal. It was completely fine, because Hongjoong was not having a crush on his boss, and if he could genuinely get a model like Jongho interested in him, then his confidence level would go up so high that it would never ever come down again. It wasn’t like Mr. Park was just awkwardly standing, either. People still approached him and he could always talk to the other scary dude, whom Jongho introduced as his manager. Hongjoong didn’t bother to catch the name.</p><p>Since he was too focused on Jongho, he completely missed the scowl Mr. Park was sending their way once in a while, especially when Jongho dared to use a horrible pickup line on him. He also didn’t give any reaction when Mr. Park excused himself to the bathroom.</p><p>And of course, as the damsel in distress is left alone, the devil decides to make his move.</p><p>“Well, well, well. If that isn’t Mr. Kim!” His voice made Hongjoong stop the conversation he was having, and his mood drop to the floor. He didn’t want to turn around, but he was representing Mr. Park in a way, so he had to be polite to everyone.</p><p>Including Mr. Shin.</p><p>He forced a smile on his face, turning to face the devil. “Mr. Shin. What a surprise to see you. I’m afraid, but Mr. Park just went to the bathroom, so if you wish to s-“ </p><p>“I am not looking for Seonghwa. I’m looking for you.” Wow, okay, rude. Just cut him off mid sentence like that, what an ass. “I wish to get to know you better.”</p><p>Hongjoong tried his best to not grimace at the proposal, looking at the two buff dudes next to Mr. Shin. His bodyguards, or something. Unless he had two personal assistants and they both looked like they could knock you out at any given moment. Maybe that a requirement they had to meet to be his personal assistant. What does Hongjoong know?</p><p>“Uh..” Before he could say anything, Jongho spoke up, “Mr. Kim and I were just in a conversation, Mr. Shin. It’s quite rude to just pull him away from me.”</p><p>Mr. Shin didn’t seem bothered by Jongho’s hostility. The smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s too bad, Mr. Choi. You could carry the conversation on another time. Mr. Kim and I barely have had time to get some personal time between each other. And, as I've noticed, you’ve been talking to him for a long while already. While I’m sure you’ve enjoyed yourself, you can’t just keep Mr. Kim all to yourself all night. Now, me and him shall get going. Come on.”</p><p>“He is not going anywhere with you.”</p><p>Satan himself wasn’t enough. Now Satan had to meet Mr. Park, again. Had he always seemed so pissed when around Mr. Shin or did something happen to make him this annoyed?</p><p>“And why would that be, Seonghwa? You can’t control him. What if he wishes to come with me?”</p><p>Mr. Park walked up to Hongjoong, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him close. “I doubt he wants that. You’re a creep, Dongho. You make him uncomfortable. Now, kindly get lost.”</p><p>Hongjoong simply watched the exchange, Mr. Shin acting offended. Had he not realized that he was a creep? Maybe nobody has ever said it to his face before.</p><p>“Me? Making him uncomfortable? But, how could I? Did I really? Or.. perhaps, you are just trying to keep this treasure to yourself. I thought you didn’t like humans, Seonghwa.”</p><p>The grip on Hongjoong’s waist tightened, “We’ll be leaving now. Goodbye.”</p><p>Mr. Shin didn’t have a chance to say anything else as Mr. Park pulled Hongjoong along to the exit. The human didn’t miss the mischievous glint in Mr. Shin’s eyes and the smirk he wore as they walked past him. Why was any interaction with Mr. Shin so insanely weird and creepy? It sent shivers down Hongjoong’s spine.</p><p>Mr. Park’s arm didn’t leave his waist until they were seated in the car, Yeosang driving them home. That might seem harmless, but they did have to wait around fifteen minutes for Yeosang to arrive, and Mr. Park didn’t say a word to him during those fifteen minutes. He seemed rather upset, but Hongjoong had no idea what could have caused this. Something must have happened while he wasn’t around, right? Or was it truly just Mr. Shin’s audacity?</p><p>“I didn’t even get to say bye to Jongho..” He mumbled. Mr. Park looked at him for a split second before he looked away again. He didn’t sit in the backseat like he had done on the way there, instead he joined Yeosang in the front.</p><p>The weird tension in the air didn’t leave throughout the car ride, and he wordlessly got dropped off at his apartment complex. He wished both of them a good night, but only got a response out of Yeosang. Before he could question it, the car drove off again.</p><p>He quickly headed inside, thankful that he had taken his coat with him as it was quiet cold at midnight. Yunho was probably asleep by now, so he wouldn’t bother texting him details. He would just call him in the morning. He wasn’t sure how vampires really slept, but he figured that they adapted to the human lifestyle and slept at night. At least, San probably did. It would make sense, with only being half-vampire and all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Hongjoong</strong>
</p><p>» Hi! I hope you got home well. I was wondering if you could send me Jongho’s number? I feel bad for just leaving like that.. «</p><p> </p><p>He set his phone down and went to take off his makeup. He would shower, but he felt too tired, the socializing and the effects of alcohol catching up to him. He did a half-assed version of his skin care routine, fluffed up his hair, changed into his pjs and went to bed, turning off all the lights. He would just shower in the morning.</p><p>Before he let sleep consume him, he checked if his text got a reply, or at least read. He did get a reply, as expected.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» I apologize, but he said he doesn’t wish for me to hand out his number. I hope you understand. Jongho is a busy, and well-loved model, and giving his number to someone he barely knows can have great consequences. «</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Hongjoong</strong>
</p><p>» Ah, okay. I guess you’re right. Tell him I’m sorry though, and that I hope we meet again! Have a good night, sir. «</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» Goodnight, Secretary Kim. «</p><p> </p><p>As sad as it was that Jongho didn’t want Hongjoong to have his number, he didn’t really think too much about it. It made sense. They did just meet and flirted a little. He doesn’t know a lot about Jongho, and Jongho doesn’t know a lot about him, and since he’s a public figure, he has to be careful about who he trusts with his personal information. He connected his phone to the charger, locked the screen and snuggled into his blanket. He didn’t read the text Mr. Park sent afterwards.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Mr. Park</strong>
</p><p>» By the way, you can take the day off tomorrow. «</p><p> </p><p>᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃</p><p> </p><p>Yeosang raised an eyebrow at Seonghwa, looking over as they stood at a red light. “You didn’t even ask Jongho about his number.”</p><p>“Why are you looking at my phone?”</p><p>The driver shrugged, turning to face the road again, “Happened to see it. Still doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t ask Jongho if Hongjoong could have his number.”</p><p>“And I won’t. What do they need each other’s number for? They won’t meet again.” Seonghwa sounded so defensive, it was almost funny. Actually, it was very funny, in Yeosang’s humble opinion.</p><p>“Why do you mind so much? Are you jealous?”</p><p>“I’m not jealous!”</p><p>Seonghwa’s slight raise of his voice definitely surprised Yeosang, but only proved his point further. The vampire calmed down quickly again, clearing his throat.</p><p>“You aren’t my friend, or therapist, and you do not get paid to intervene in my personal life. You are simply a driver. Now, please take me home.”</p><p>He was not jealous. Why in the world would he be jealous if his assistant and friend flirted? Why would he be jealous if his assistant and friend had each other’s number? Maybe he was being irrational. Maybe he should correct his mistake. Yes, if Jongho asks him about Hongjoong’s number, he will give it to him.</p><p>And as Jongho did text him about Hongjoong’s number, Seonghwa told him the same white lie he had told Hongjoong.</p><p>Matter of fact, they didn’t need each other’s number. It was as simple as that. Seonghwa’s possible jealousy had nothing to do with his decisions, because he was not jealous.</p><p>Definitely not.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>if you need a visual for seonghwa’s outfit, it’s basically his mama 2020 stage outfit. I thought it would fit pretty well, it seemed damn fancy! this chapter was pretty long, so I hope you enjoyed it! this, and maybe the next 1 or 2 chapters are the calm before the storm.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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